The Things We Do
by Reachabledreamz
Summary: AJ and Dolph have been dating for 4 years. What happens when AJ gets fed up with just dating Dolph and she wants more? Will he agree or decline?
1. No Turning Back

The thing is ... I'm in love. Utterly and completely in love. With ... him. He's perfect. He's flawless. But he only sees me as his girlfriend. I'm not wife material I guess. I just simply kiss you everyday and smile as wide as I can and hope you reciprocate it. That's what I want to tell him. That's what I want to express to him, but what do I do? I sit back and mentally go crazy asking myself questions that I already know the answer to. Does he love me? Yes. Does he care? Yes. Does he want to spend the rest of his life with me? That's where I get stuck. Dolph and I have been together for almost 4 years now and we've just been smooth sailing lately. Nothing in our relationship has changed. Of course we have fights, we get over them, and we learn something new about each other, but nothing significant has happened. Nothing special enough to tell your grand kids about. Nothing that I want to continue to happen. I want something new. Something different. I want ... him. I want him to be mine forever and for the world to know it. I don't care about the wrestling, and I don't care about the championships. I want to walk down that ramp with him to his match knowing that when we cross back through those curtains, I'll be kissing my husband. I want him to go get his shower and come back to our locker room and tell him wife how he thought the match went. But no ... I'm stuck 4 years into a very good relationship with high hopes and dreams that he could care less about.

Maybe I'm putting too much on this and he wanted it just as bad as I did. Just kidding. Dolph has told me out of his own mouth that he doesn't have any plans of getting married and having kids anytime soon. He says we need to wait until things cool down work wise. Since he just won the title, he's going to be super busy, which means I'm going to be super busy.

Right now, Dolph is at the gym doing his workout that he loves so much. I was just at our house waiting for him to come back with food. He'd probably marry food if he could instead of me. Lets just face it, I'm not wife material. My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a knock on the door. My head shot towards the door in surprise. Who could that be? It was probably Big E coming to tell me sorry about a huge fist to the chest he gave me. I walked over to the door and opened it. I was right, there standing in front of me was Big E with Chinese food.

"E, Dolph was going to bring home food." I said letting him in.

"Well I brought some food because I knew you'd be bored and hungry. I'm the entertainment and here's the food." He said sitting down on the couch and starting to open the containers.

"Thanks. So what do you want to do?"

"Let's watch a movie or something."

I looked at him with one of my faces. "E, you know I'm not a movie kind of girl."

"Exactly. I'm going to convert you."

"Good luck with that. But seriously what can we do? I'm was bored out of my mind before you came. At least keep me company while you're here!"

"I want to talk to you about that interview you did after Dolph won the championship the other day."

"What inter-" It hit me. He was talking about when I called myself Mrs. Dolph Ziggler. "Oh, that one."

"Yes, that one! Why didn't you tell me he proposed?" Big E said with a huge smile that would soon fade.

"Because he didn't."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"I was wishful thinking. Hoping basically. I mean a girl can dream can't she?"

"AJ you need to just break down and talk to him about it." Big E was my best guy friend in the whole world. I was the one the recommended him to be in our group so he could finally come up from NXT and that was a change in our friendship. We've been friends longer than Dolph and I have been together and even before the NXT days. He's honestly like the sister on the road that I never had. He's a big brown teddy bear that keeps our secrets and gossips with you on long road trips and he's just overall an amazing friend.

"I can't."

"Yes you can! The man is in love with you! All he has to do is take that last step!"

"Exactly. He needs to take the last step, not me."

"Don't be so difficult. Just give him a chance. Maybe it's something stopping him that you don't know about."

"Like what? He's scared I'll reject him? Or he's had a rough past? No, E, trust me, there's nothing holding him back but himself."

"I swear I don't know what's up with him. You're all he talks about and I always hint towards marriage but he strays every time without fail."

"I don't know what to do anymore. I can't dress any different, I can't kiss any different, I can't act any different, and I'm not going to. But what does he want from me? We've been together since the NXT days, and we've evolved so much, but ugh! I don't get him sometimes!"

Big E just looked at me with those sympathetic eyes. I hated those sympathetic eyes. They made me feel like everyone was pitying me because I was less than. I got that a lot in my relationship with Daniel. Daniel was my boyfriend about a year or so before Dolph and he was a class-A jerk to me. He proposed to me and everything and i, believe it or not, was on cloud nine. Someone wanted to spend the rest of their life with me. Scratch that. He really didn't. He wanted me to get him higher up on the roster. I don't even know why I was with him to be honest and I regret every single moment of it. He scarred me in so many ways. He's the reason I'm insecure about everything and the reason I was so distant with Dolph. Unfortunately for me, a couple years later, they put us in a storyline together where i had to kiss him, and be humiliated by him again, but it was fake this time. Dolph and I were together then, but it still hurt for him to repeat words he had said to me before when we finally parted ways. Luckily I'm in a storyline with Dolph now, and honestly, it seems like he's more interested in me on TV than he is at home.

"Don't look at me with that face!" I playfully yelled throwing a couch pillow at him.

"Look AJ, I know how you're feeling, but don't get discouraged. He'll come around sooner or later. When will he be home?"

I looked down at my watch to see it was 7:45. "He should be home now, so he'll be here any minute."

"Let's act like we were having so much fun without him here so he'll feel jealous." This is why I loved E, he was always that good friend when you needed your spirits lifted.

We turned on the stereo and started blasting the radio and dancing like we were crazy people. E was really strong, so he would pick me up and sit me on his shoulders and pose after he would do a weird dance. We didn't even notice Dolph there until i tripped and he caught me right before I hit the ground.

"Hey Babe." I said standing up straight and turning off the music.

"Hey." he said looking at us weird and coming over and kissing me.

"Hey dude." Big E said laughing from the couch. He loved to see me trip, fall, or potentially hurt myself. It was pure comedy for him.

Dolph didn't pulled away from our kiss yet and it felt like he didn't want to. He just kept it going and I wasn't complaining. I needed air though, which didn't seem to bother him at all. "Dolph, what's up with you today?" I asked when we finally pulled away.

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't kissed me like that in over a year."

"Oh."

"Hey Dolph, when are you going to propose to AJ? I'm just asking because I want to be there to see the insane look on her face when she says yes." Curse you E. He brought it up trying to make it sound like fun and games, but that's far from what it was.

"Ummm-" Dolph started but I didn't even want him to finish. I couldn't take whatever that answer was going to be and it was going to kill me to hear it.

"It doesn't matter,E." I could feel Dolph's eyes on me as I said that but I refused to look at him. He had one arm wrapped around me, and that made it pretty hard.

"I'm just saying-"

"I'm just saying ... It doesn't matter." I said slowly trying to let E know this was not the time.

"Okay, okay. But can I ask a quick question?"

"What is it?"

"How long have you and Dolph been dating?"

"E..."

"I just want to know how long I have until your next anniversary. I need to get you something better than what I got you guys last year."

I just rolled my eyes. In the process I noticed Dolph studying my face. He was trying to figure out what I was thinking and what was wrong. If it wasn't obvious, the fact that there is a naked ring finger on my left hand, that's the problem.

"It's May 12th if you have to know." I answered finally.

"Oh okay. I have a little time. What are you guys planning on doing?"

"I have no clue actually. It's not like the 5th year is going to be too different from the 4th, right?" I broke away from Dolph's grip around my waist, and headed towards the stairs. "I'll be back in a minute."

I walked up the stairs and into our room flopping down on the bed. I was already in some comfortable clothes, so me laying there was a nice feeling. My body was finally feeling the 3:30 am wake up calls and the late night signings we'd do after the shows. I slipped under the covers and right when I was getting comfortable going through my twitter feed, a message popped up on my phone from Dolph.

'Big E's about to leave'

'Tell him I love him and bye'

'I haven't even gotten an I love you yet, but it's cool.'

'Sorry babe'

'So I'm guessing you're not coming back downstairs tonight?'

'Tired'

'E said bye and he'll call you tomorrow'

'Awe, someone cares.'

'Wow.'

'I didn't mean it like that babe, calm down.'

'Whats your problem today?'

'I don't have a problem. Do you?'

'Nope.'

'I'm going to sleep. Early day tomorrow.'

'Enjoy letting everyone other than me into your Road to Wrestlemania life'

'Dolph don't do this'

'Goodnight babe.'

I groaned and threw my phone down and covered my face with a pillow. This was not the week we needed to do this. I felt a bounce in the mattress and took the pillow off my face. i noticed Dolph in the bed looking at his phone texting someone.

"What's your schedule tomorrow?" he asked me not looking away from his phone.

"I don't know. We're suppose to go around the city taking pictures and I have to show them places that mean something to me."

"Interesting."

"What so you mean by that?"

"Nothing. It just sounds interesting."

He was repeating what I did to him earlier. I was studying his face, but he wouldn't look at me. He had an attitude though, and to be honest, I kind of didn't know why. I should be the one upset.

"Do you want to come?"

"For what?"

"You don't want to?"

"I didn't say that."

I sat up and faced him looking dead serious. "Look, Dolph I don't know what's going on with you, but I was just asking a simple question. Do you want to come or not? I'm fine with it either way, so don't just come to have an attitude because you feel forced."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He exhaled and sat up looking at me. "I'll try and come. What time are you leaving?"

"I'll be leaving the house at like 8 in the morning."

"That's the time I go on my run."

"Then don't come." I said rolling my eyes and laying back down. I pulled the covers over me and turned my back to him. Things just got serious.

I woke up the next morning at 5 to realize Dolph was already gone. He was gone for his workout session of the day. I laid there in bed thinking about him. How much I loved him, and how much he meant to me. How stupid this fight was, and how it could have been avoided. By the time I was drifting back to sleep, the doorbell rang. Stupid camera crew.

I let them in, and we left a little later. I was first taking them to a motel I used to live at. It was a part of my life I really didn't want to relive alone, which was my main reason for Dolph being there. Just in case some things became too emotional for me, I wanted my boyfriend there for me. But ... he was too interested in a stupid run that he couldn't be here for me.

We pulled up to the motel and all these old memories started flooding back. I instantly started to tear up, but I was able to hold them back. The cameramen started taking pictures of me and then the cameras started rolling. They wanted me to tell a brief story about my life here and how it felt. That's when it all went wrong. Right when I got finished I burst out into tears. I couldn't help myself, and nobody there knew what to do. I was just crying my little heart out and they all slowly walked away to give me a moment I guess.

I was sitting on a porch area they had with my back facing everyone and i looked out into the Jersey city wondering why I was crying.

"It's okay." I heard a familiar voice say to me as they wrapped their strong arms around me. I felt a chin on my shoulder and looked over to see it was Dolph. He came.

"It still hurts."

"If it didn't, you wouldn't be human babe."

"All those bad memories came flooding back, and I didn't want them too. They effect me now almost as much as they effected me then."

"All those bad memories should just show you how awesome you are now. The fact that you're not in this situation anymore proves how far you've come and how far you're going to keep going."

I gave a small laugh. "Thank you." I felt better. I knew him being here would help me. I'm glad he came.

"I'm so-" he was cut off by my phone ringing. It was Kaitlyn probably calling to ask if Dolph was around to cuss him out. I called her this morning and I told her what happened and she's been going ballistic.

"Hello?" I said putting her on speaker.

"Don't 'hello?' me like you don't know what I'm calling for. You know what I want."

"Kaitlyn calm down."

"I'm not going to calm down when that scared to marry you, crazy, egotistical, boyfriend of yours is acting like a jerk!"

"Here we go again." Dolph said moving away from me. Kaitlyn was always getting involved whenever Dolph and I got into a fight. She would always yell at him and tell him to get his act together before the "hybrid diva" kicked his butt.

"Was that him!? Can he hear me!?" She yelled knowing she was on speaker.

"Kaitlyn-"

"You listen here buddy, you better be glad I'm at a signing right now, or I would march right down to that motel and kick your-"

"Kaitlyn!"

"What?! I'm tired of the sad phone calls at 7 in the morning with you crying to me about how he flipped out on you or you're mad at him, and you guys aren't talking to each other!"

Dolph's eyebrows raised as he looked at me. He knew I told Kaitlyn about our big fights, but not that i told her about all of them.

"Look, Kaitlyn, it's not that big of a deal-"

"Just like how you want to get married and he doesn't isn't a big deal? Or how you want kids and he doesn't isn't a big deal? Or how you want to move and he doesn't isn't a big deal? Shall I go on?"

I let a tear slip down my face and I looked over at Dolph to see him refusing to look at me. "No." I replied to her.

"I have to go okay? But when I see you guys, I'm kicking some Mr. Money in the Bank butt."

"Please don't."

"Too late." And then she hung up. My best friend really needed a boyfriend of her own.

"Dolph, I'm sorry-"

"Why did you tell her?"

"Tell her what exactly?"

"About last night. I was literally in the middle of telling you I was sorry, and Kaitlyn calls to kill me through the phone."

"I was in the car this morning with the tech guy and he was so quiet and awkward, so I called her. She asked me what was wrong and I told her I was worried about coming here, and she asked why weren't you coming, and it sort of just came out."

"Why can't I just be in a relationship with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"If it's not Kaitlyn, it's Big E. Dont get me wrong, I understand they've been your friends way longer than we've been together, but do they have to be involved in everything?"

"They're not involved in everything!"

"Yes they are! We had a small argument less than 12 hours ago, and for at least 9 of them, you were sleep! Can you at least wake up and let us discuss it first before you and them?"

"They're my best friends and they care enough about me to want to know what's wrong. So when they ask, I tell them. I don't just go around telling people our business."

"How does Kaitlyn know that you were wanting to move and I didn't? That's things me and you should talk about, and that they shouldn't be involved in."

"They're not involved! I just tell them to vent my feelings out."

"You should be doing that with me though AJ. Not them. I'm the one you have a problem with, so I'm the one you should be talking to."

"It's kind of hard to talk to you when you're yelling or you won't talk to me."

"Don't act like I'm the one that just picks fights and causes all our problems."

"What did I do to you yesterday Dolph? I didn't do anything and you came into the house already with an attitude!"

"No I didn't. I came in really happy actually. I came in, I kissed you, I was in a really good mood, but no, Big E had to bring up this whole marriage thing that everyone's been obsessed with talking to me about for the last couple of months. Then you went upstairs acting all sad and heartbroken."

"Maybe because I was!"

"What was I suppose to do? You're not one of those types where you can just say sorry and everything will be okay again. This is a topic that obviously you care about, and it hurts you when you see I'm not as interested in it as you."

"Why though!?"

"It doesn't matter!"

"To me it does!"

"I swear, AJ, I was really close. I was so close to asking you to marry me, and then all of this started happening. Every move I made turned into 'when are you going to ask her?' 'You've been together for so long' 'tie the knot already' 'are you scared of commitment?'"

"Are you?"

"If I was scared of commitment I wouldn't be here right now. I've been committed to you for the last 4 years."

"Then what's the problem? I don't see what one more step in our relationship is going to do to you! Why can't you just prove you love me, and do it?"

"I shouldn't have to prove I love you by putting a stupid ring on your finger. If you don't know I love you already, then I don't know what to say."

"It's not stupid. It's a symbol to prove to everyone around us that you're mine and I'm yours."

"You ready are!"

"But marriage makes it official!"

"Tell me something AJ, after I propose, after the wedding, then what? What's going to change? Other than you have a slight weight change on your left hand, what's going to be different?"

"We'll be married, that's the difference. I'll be Mrs. Dolph Ziggler, and that would mean the world to me to be called that."

"A name change? That's what you want?"

"That's not it, we'll be able to start a family properly, and we can raise them properly."

"What's the proper way?"

"The way everything's suppose to be done. You find the one you want to be with, you marry them, and you start a family."

"What handbook is that from?"

"Really?"

"Look, I honestly just don't see the point, and I don't understand why it means so much to you. I'm not going to love you anymore than I already do after we get married, because that's not possible. I love you with all my heart, and I don't feel I have to prove that to you, with a ring."

"That's selfish!"

"How is that selfish?!"

"You're only thinking about yourself. You obviously don't want to make me happy and you're fine at the stage our relationship is at now."

"I was very content with the way our relationship was going, until everyone started pestering me about this."

"So it bothers you?"

"That no matter what I do, and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make you happy, yes, that bothers me AJ."

"I want to be married Dolph, that's what's going to make me happy!"

"Maybe if you stopped expecting it so much, it would happen quicker. It's all you talk about now. We can't sit down and have a normal conversation without it being brought up. I couldn't surprise you with a proposal even if I wanted to!"

"How about I never bring it up again and you just forget about me?"

"What?"

"Forget about me. If it's going to hurt you so much to marry me, then we just don't need to be together anymore."

"Why do you do this? You always paint this picture to everyone and even to yourself that I'm this bad guy who doesn't care about you. I know your past, and I know how Daniel treated you, so the fact that i do something as simple as pull your chair out in a restaurant we go to, shows I care way more about you than him!"

"You just had to bring that up didn't you?"

"I didn't bring it up to hurt you, or to shove it in your face. I'm trying to let you know that no matter what, you'll always be mine, and I shouldn't have to prove that to the world by saying 'I do'."

"Don't prove it to them! Prove it to me."

"Excuse me. I'm so sorry to interrupt, but we have to get going to the wrestling school now." The tech guy interrupted us saying.

"Okay, by the time you pack everything up and put it in the car, I'll be ready."

"Okay Ms. Lee." He said and scurried away.

"You hear that? Ms. Lee. He called me Ms. Lee. Look, I don't know if you're scared or you just don't want to be stuck with me for the rest of your life, but I love you with everything in me. I don't even look at other guys the way I look at you. So take that information and run with it."

"AJ-"

"You heard him, Ms. Lee has to go. Bye Dolph." I walked past him and to the car without looking back. If I did, he would have seen me crying my eyes out.


	2. Do You Comprehend?

The rest of the day went by quicker than I needed it to. The sooner this day was over, the sooner I had to see the man who is basically refusing to marry me. I walked into the hotel room, took my shoes off, and realized Dolph wasn't there. He should have been. Where was he? Yes, I was mad at him, but I didn't want him out at all types of hours. I called him and he didn't answer so I got dressed for bed and got under the covers. I looked over at Dolph's empty side of the bed and sighed. This had gotten way out of hand.

2:30 a.m... It was 2:30 in the morning and I was disturbed by a thunderous knock at the door. I sleepily walked over and opened and saw a six-foot man, stumble his way in.

"Dolph?"

"Yeah?" He said falling out on the couch.

"Why are you just now coming back?"

"I was out ... with ... the guys and -" there was another knock at the door. I opened the door and saw Big E, out of breath, standing there.

"E, what's wrong?"

"Is Dolph here?"

"Yeah, he just came back, why?"

"We were down at the bar, and he decided to sprint away from us out of nowhere. So I've been running all over the hotel trying to find him."

"The bar? Why were you guys at the bar?"

"Dolph texted me and told me to meet him there."

"Why?"

"I honestly have no clue. When I got there he was drunk already, so-"

"Wait, he's drunk?" My head shot towards Dolph who was still lying out on the couch.

"You didn't notice?"

"No. He just came in."

"Oh, should I leave?"

"No. Stay. Unless you want to leave."

"Can I crash here tonight? I've been running around for the last 30 minutes trying to find him, and I can't move too much more."

"Yeah sure." I let Big E into the room and he sat at the edge of our bed. "So what happened while you guys were down there?

"Before I answer, you should hear this. The guys recorded this and sent it to me."

"What is it?"

"Dolph at the bar."

"Is it a video?"

"No. It's just his voice." He clicked on a link and the video soon started to play.

"You know what guys? You know what the biggest disappointment in life is? Me. I can't do anything right and she doesn't love me anymore so why go around acting like everything is okay? I mean," *laughs* "what do I have to give her anymore? I can't love her anymore than I already do ... I can't ..." *laugh* "she wants so much from me and all I want is time. Time for us to live a little. We're in our twenties and she already wants to start a-a-a family. I know what the end result of a young marriage is, just look at my parents. Divorced and bitter. She's threatening to leave me if I don't marry her ... what's my life going to be like without her if I say no?" *laugh* "lets just say I won't be too fun to be around in the locker room."

The video cut off and I was in utter shock. I looked over at Dolph and saw him sitting up on the couch now, with a very angry face.

"Whhhyyyy am I ... here?" He said slurring his words, and looking around.

"What do you mean?" I said walking over and sitting on the table in front of him.

"Get away frrrrrom me!" He yelled and got up, running towards the door.

"Dolph stop! You're drunk, stop!" I yelled blocking him from leaving. I tried grabbing his hand, but he snatched away from me.

"Didn't I tell you I had a girlfriend?! I don't want you!"

"What's your girlfriend's name?" I asked just to see what he was going to say.

"...A...A...J...AJ!"

"Dolph it's me."

"I don't know anyone called 'me'."

"No, baby it's me, AJ."

"Yeah right. AJ's mad at me. She wouldn't be this nice to me."

"Dolph, I swear, it's me, AJ." I said taking his hand, but this time he let me take him over to the bed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Ask me anything." I said laying him down and putting him under the covers. I felt like a mom, putting her child to bed at night.

"What's my favorite movie?"

"Human Centipede." I went over to my side and got under the covers and looked at him. He was rubbing his eyes and moving around a lot. But he finally stopped and popped up to look at me.

"Can I sleep with you? I don't want it to be weeeeeird since I'm not your boyfriend."

"Dolph you are my boyfriend."

"No I'm not! I have a girlfriend already!"

"I'm your girlfriend Dolph."

"Noooooooope." he said backing away. "I'm coooold."

"You want another blanket?"

Out of nowhere, he cuddled up to me, putting his head was on my chest, and the rest of his body was as close as it possibly could be to everything else. He wrapped his arms around me, and he instantly fell asleep, leaving me to get comfortable to the position he left me in. I looked over and saw Big E looking at us with a huge smirk.

"You're going to let him have it tomorrow aren't you?"

"You know me too well."

"Try not to yell at him too much though, okay? I know Dolph well enough to know that he only drinks when he's upset, so something must be wrong."

"He's getting the full effect tomorrow. Not only did he come home at 2:30, he was drunk too, so I don't see a reason to go easy on him."

"You heard what he said. He feels like a failure and he can't make you happy, and that's why he was there. Drinking was his escape tonight."

"It doesn't need to be though, and he knows that. He's a grown man. He should know not to go around getting drunk, just because we got in an argument."

"Okay, well I'll be here in the morning to cool you down if I need to."

"You do that."

"Goodnight." He said and I smiled and got comfortable. Tomorrow morning was not looking good for Dolph.

I woke up the next morning to a groaning man lying next to me. He had his head in a pillow and he wouldn't stop groaning. Obviously, just now feeling the effects of his drinking escapade he had the night before.

"Dolph SHUTUP!" I said rolling over and hitting him with a spare pillow.

"Ow!" He looked up and his eyes were red.

"What? Your groaning was getting annoying and disturbing my sleep."

"I have a tornado going on in my head right now. I would really appreciate it if you would not talk above a whisper."

"Well look who has a hangover. That's what drinking does to you sweetie."

"Whisper!"

"Dolph I'm not going to whisper just because you chose to go out last night, get drunk, and come back to our room expecting me to cradle you like a baby."

"All I ask ... is for you to whisper. You can say whatever you want to say to me still, you can ignore me, you can beat me with a pillow, in every area of my body except my head ... just please whisper."

"Ugh! I swear you can't do anything right anymore!" I said sitting up in the bed. "You can't even do the simple things anymore! You can't come home at a reasonable time, you can't control your drinking, and you can't even have a good day with me anymore. Yesterday was the perfect day for us to just be together, but no, you had to pick a fight with me about Kaitlyn and Big E, and about the whole marriage situation. I don't understand you anymore Dolph. For years I knew you so well, but now I look at you and it's like who are you? I don't want that feeling anymore Dolph and if you can't get it together, not only will you be World Heavyweight Champion, but you'll be a single World Heavyweight Champion!" I yelled and went into the bathroom slamming the door behind me. When I got in there I stopped in front of the mirror and looked at myself. That was uncalled for. I shouldn't have said it because it wasn't true and I knew that. He does almost everything right actually. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and opened the bathroom door to find the room empty except for Big E standing there with a sad face.

"Where's Dolph?" He hunched his shoulders but I knew he knew the answer to my question. "E, this isn't the time to be keeping secrets, where is he?"

E walked right past me and opened the door to the room, about to leave. "Look on the bed." He said and immediately left. What was his problem today?

I looked on the bed and saw my phone and a bunch of wrinkled sheets. I picked up my phone to check the time and saw a text message from Dolph.

'I'm sorry AJ. The fact that I can't make you happy anymore is killing me ... so, I have to let you go. I can't sit back and be a disappointment to you anymore. I can't put you through that anymore. My life is going to be hard and painful without you but I think it's what's best if I'm just that bad of a person to you. What can I say? I tried. I tried my hardest to love you, to respect you, and to take care of you with all of me, and in the end, it just didn't work out. I promised your dad before he died that that's what I would do, and I promised I would try. I tried ... and I failed. Your dad told me "take care of her man; she's the last thing on Earth with the heart of a bull and the soul of butterfly". I'm sorry I let him down, but I'm sorry I let you down. I love you babe and hopefully I won't be such a failure to you soon. Until then, I think it's your call now. You decide what we do or where we go from here. -Dolph'

He was gone. I whined and yelled and complained so much that I pushed him away. Me saying he didn't do anything right anymore was the last straw and I broke it.

I immediately put some clothes on and left the room with just my phone and wallet. I knew where he would be and I was trying my best to make it there as quickly as possible. When I got there I saw him. I saw him standing there ... at her grave. His mom's grave.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said stopping a few feet away.

"It wasn't something you'd care about." He said wiping a tear I saw fall down his face.

"Dolph, I care about anything that's hurting you."

"It doesn't hurt. I don't feel anything."

"Your grandma and grandpa were the only ones that cared about you growing up Dolph, I know that. So for her to be sick, I know that hurts."

"How did you know?"

"I called Briley on my way here."

"She's in ICU right now. Fighting for a life that was gone years ago. We're lucky she's here now. She deserves to go somewhere where the pain won't hurt and where tears won't stream down her face. A place where all her pain will be gone. I wish that was the case for me."

"Dolph she's going to be okay."

"No she's not. Her time to leave me is so close. I'm just not ready for it."

"When did you find out?"

"That she was sick? A long time ago. ICU? This morning. When my brother called and told me at like 5 this morning, and the hangover on top of that, my morning was already ruined, and you said that basically I'm worthless to you now ..." His voice trailed and I saw him wipe a few more tears. "I lost it. My grandma is the last person on Earth that cares about me, and she's about to be gone. She's leaving me and I can't do anything about it. I can't take away the cancer. I can't give her a new body. I can't give her more medicine. I can't see my life without her, and now that I have to ... I just ... I don't know."

"Dolph don't do anything you'll regret."

"What else do I have to live for? She's gone. You're gone. You guys were all I had. Sure, I have the WWE, but that's not anything special to me anymore."

"I'm not gone Dolph and I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah right. Right when I make yet another mistake, you'll be gone."

"Hey, look at me." I said walking up to him and turning his face towards me, but he wouldn't make eye contact. "Baby look at me." He finally looked down at me. "I swear I'm not going anywhere. I might say I'm leaving or you don't do anything right, but I say it out of anger. Never think that I don't care about you because I do. We've been doing this for 4 years. If I've been here that long, I'm not going anywhere."

"She's all I had for so long."

"Then why are you here and not there?"

"I don't know. I stopped by here in anger. She never cared and she always put me down ever since the divorce and now the one person who tried to help her is about to be gone. My mom ... she was a really great woman. The fact that she got married young was her problem. She did everything so early in life that when she got older, everything she wanted to do, she had done already. So she got bored of her life ... and she took it."

Dolph never told me his mom committed suicide. He just always said she died a few years before we met. "I didn't know that."

"That's not something you just upfront tell someone."

"Dolph we've been together long enough for you to tell me this stuff. Are you scared to tell me?"

"I'm not scared. I'm ashamed really. My family is the type of family you see from the outside and they look happy, but you go inside and it's just crazy, and barbaric, and... I don't want you knowing that side of me that I want to let go of."

"Same with me. I never brought you by that motel because it had so much negativity that I didn't want you to see. So many things happened there that I didn't want anyone to see." He pulled me into a hug and we stood there hugging each other for at least five minutes. In pure silence. "Go see her."

"I can't see her like that."

"I'll go with you. You don't have to go alone."

"Thank you." He said kissing the top of my head, which made me pull away from the hug and give him a real kiss. He deserved this kiss and I wanted him to have it.

"I find it very attractive that you cry in front of me with no problem." I said trying to lighten the mood and starting to walk away.

"I wasn't crying. What crying are you talking about?"

"Check your face Macho Man." I turned away and walked back to the rental and waited for him to get there. His mom was a total jerk to him, but that was still his mom and he missed her. I knew this is where he'd be from previous times he'd come here to get away from life ... even if it was just for a moment.

When we got to the hospital, Dolph stopped at the room door and stared at the door handle. He was scared. "Open the door." I said encouragingly and taking his free hand. He turned the door handle and opened the door and we walked in. All you saw was a pale, skinny, woman hooked up to wires and looking off into space. Dolph gasped and turned away. "Talk to her." I whispered and he looked at me with eyes full of fear.

"Hi grandma." He finally said sitting down next to her in a chair.

"Dolphin?" She said not moving an inch.

"Yeah grandma, it's me."

"How ... are you ... sweetie?"

"I'm fine. I brought AJ. She wanted to see you."

"Hi sweeties. You ... taking care of ... my baby right?"

"Yes ma'am. How are you feeling?" I asked with sadness in my face. I had met Dolph's grandma on several occasions and she looked so different.

"I'm doing okay." She said and her voice was weak. "Dolphin you still ... there?"

"I'm right here." He said grabbing her hand.

"I need to ... tell you a couple ... of things before ... I leave."

"Grandma-"

"Just listen. I want you to ... make up with your ... father. He misses you ... and I want you to ... do it for me. Briley visited me ... the other day ... and said you weren't doing ... so well because I ... was sick. Don't let ... me slow you down. I'm going to ... miss you so ... much baby, but ... you gotta let me ... go."

Dolph couldn't say anything. He just cried at the fact that she even knew herself; she would soon be leaving the world. I cried too. Seeing her and him like this was my dad dying times two.

We just sat there for hours with her. In silence. Watching TV, reading, crying, and other things. "Visiting hours are over." A nurse said coming into the room.

"Okay, thank you." I said and went over to her bedside and said goodbye. Dolph said his goodbyes too and we soon left, but Dolph stopped a doctor in the hallway on our way out.

"How much longer does she have?"

"Minimum 4 days. The cancer hasn't reached her heart yet, and it's moving at a rate where Sunday is our projected day."

"So she'll be alive until at least Sunday?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay. Thank you. We'll be back up here Saturday then."

"Okay then. See you Saturday." The doctor said with a smile and left. We left the hospital and drove back to the hotel. When we got to our room, Big E was there eating chips in front of the TV.

"E, when did you get a key?" I asked walking over to him.

"When housekeeping thought this was my room."

"Why are you in here?"

"I don't know. Your room smells better than mine, and I was bored."

"I don't even want to retaliate."

"Yeah, you might want to check and see if your boyfriend can breathe."

"What?" I said turning around and seeing him face down into the covers on the bed. "Baby get up."

"No. I'm comfortable here."

"Please? For me?" I said using all my strength to turn him onto his back and sit on his stomach.

"Just for you." He said putting his hands on my waist and I smiled. We haven't been like this in a while. "Hold on a second." He said grabbing his phone from his pocket and typing something.

"What were you doing?" Right when I said that, I felt a vibration in my pocket and took my phone out.

'I don't think this is PG enough for Big E'

'Who says he needs it PG?'

'You're such a flirt babe'

'Can you please tell me why I'm texting you instead of kissing you right now?'

'You want to kiss me?'

'Definitely want to kiss you baby'

'I just want to let you know if you kiss me ... we're not stopping there'

I looked at the text and my head shot to E. "E, you have to leave."

"Whhhhyyyy? My show is getting goooood" he whined as he got up.

"Because ..." I said giving him a look and he quickly got the hint.

"Alright. Well I'll be in my room when you two flirtatious folks get done."

"Bye E ..." I said bending down brushing my lips up against Dolph's, waiting to hear the door click shut. When it did ... our Road to Wrestlemania officially had begun.

I swear last night had to be the best night we've had in a year. We spent it not only doing un-PG like things, but we watched movies, and played games, and just loved all over each other trying to make up for the last year we had missed. I like this. Dolph's mind wasn't on his grandma and that was amazing. He needed time away from it in order to process it better.

"Okay. So favorite movie besides Human Centipede?" He asked me laughing as he fed me a chocolate covered strawberry. We had been laying there wrapped in the covers, feeding each other room service all morning and we loved it.

"Human Centipede 2." I said feeding him a vanilla covered strawberry.

"See, I don't think that's fair, only because that's technically the same thing, but it's not."

"So do I get a kiss of not?" I asked puckering my lips.

"You definitely can get a kiss babe." He said leaning down and kissing me. "You taste like chocolate and strawberries."

"You taste like vanilla and strawberries."

"That's only because we both agreed on separate strawberries because I don't like chocolate and you don't like vanilla."

"And how well did that work out?"

"Actually pretty good, because I've discovered chocolate on you is better than by itself."

I laughed. "What does that mean?"

"When I 'accidentally' rubbed it on your lips and I kissed it off of you ... that was heaven."

"I still can't stand vanilla, but when I kiss you, I will admit, it tastes much better."

"Well thank you Pikachu."

"Ziggy when are we going to watch Human Centipede? You've been promising me that since last night and you keep putting it off."

"Because I have better things to do." He said kissing me again.

"Oh really? I'd like to see those things."

"I will definitely show them to you. But you have to-" knock knock knock. Who was at the door this early in the morning?

"Who's that?"

"I have no clue. You're not expecting anyone?"

"Ugh. Yeah. I totally forgot about the camera crew coming by to get some pictures and stuff."

"Really? Right now? Do they haaaaave to come?"

"Unfortunately yes. But hey, go in the bathroom, stay in there while they're here and right when they leave ... I'm all yours. I mean, if you want me that bad."

He rolled his eyes and kissed me and got out the bed and walked into the bathroom in his underwear not caring about the curtains being slightly pulled back. "Make sure you put clothes on, they aren't that privileged yet." He said closing the door.

I laughed and I quickly put on some clothes and opened the door for the guys to come in. "So how long is this going to take?"

"No more than 10 minutes. We just want to make a quick video of your shoe collection and your family."

"Okay." I said satisfied this wasn't going to be an all day thing and I would soon be back in bed with my boyfriend. I did the two videos and they were gone in the amount of time that he said. When they left, I got back in bed. "Babe they're gone."

"Thank you Jesus. I was starting to develop claustrophobia."

"Really?" I said as he got back in the bed.

"Yes. You never realize how small a bathroom is until you stand in there for 10 minutes with nothing to do. Oh, and I see you've taken the liberty of taking your clothes off?"

"Yes. I thought it would save a lot of time, and we could skip to Human Centipede and feeding each other strawberries."

"I think I want grapes now."

"Red or green?"

"Red." He said excited and it made me laugh. He was too cute. I fed him a couple grapes and he turned on the movie. We were such a dysfunctional couple. What couple do you know that just willingly watches Human Centipede on a day to day basis?

"Ziggy I hate this part." I said digging my head into his chest.

"Babe, all he's doing is cutting to girl's butt open."

"I don't like to see the surgery parts."

"Surgery has to be one of the best parts."

"You're gross!"

"I've been told." He said and I glared at him.

"You probably like it because you get to see a girl's butt."

"I will admit that was the reason before I met you, but since I have you now ... I have my own cute little butt to look at."

"Did you just say my butt was little?"

"Everything on you is little babe."

"I don't know if I should be offended by that."

"Don't be. It's a good thing. I like how everything is so small."

"Can you promise me something?"

"What is it?"

"You have to promise to do it first."

"Okay, I promise."

"Promise me that when you're ready, no matter what age that is, that you'll propose to me?" I asked and he looked at me with those crystal blue eyes.

"Promise." He said without hesitation. For some reason that put me at ease. Knowing that one day he would and he wasn't totally against it ... was amazing.

"So, do you want to lay here all day or go do something?" I asked smiling at him.

"Do you want to know my honest opinion or the one I know you want to hear?"

"I don't care either way, so it doesn't matter to me."

"Really? You don't mind lying here all day?"

"Yeah, I'm fine laying here with you with grapes, strawberries, and I think we still have some icing left."

"You have an unnatural obsession with chocolate icing."

"It's delicious!"

"It's gross."

"You don't like it only because you don't like chocolate."

"Mhmm." He said kissing me. I giggled out of nowhere and he laughed at me. "Where did that come from?"

"I don't know. I just love being here with you. Just me and you. No interruptions. No attitudes. No friends. Nothing but me and you. Plus, this is our last day together before Wrestlemania."

"We see each other Saturday."

"Yeah, but you don't get here until 5. That's not a full day."

"I know. I'm going to miss you. I'm going to spend Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday without my Pikachu."

"I'm going to miss you too Ziggy."

"Okay, since I promised you something, you have to promise me something too."

"Anything."

"When we have our first baby, if it's a boy, we have to name him Nikko. But if it's a girl, we have to name her Aubree."

I was silent. I didn't know what to say. He was thinking about baby names already. He was thinking of our future together. It was going to be me and him, together forever after all.

"You don't like those names?" He asked snapping me out of my trance.

"No baby, I love them, it's just..."

"What?"

"You're thinking about baby names..."

"I thought you wanted kids?"

"I do! But I thought you didn't."

"No, I don't want kids right now. Of course I want kids in the future. Wait, babe, have been thinking for the past 4 years that I didn't want kids at all?" I nodded my head. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to make you think that."

"It's fine. I'm glad it's cleared now." I said and kissed him passionately. He smiled through the kiss and we kept it going until we needed air. "Best ... Boyfriend ... Ever."

"Thank you. And you definitely are the best girlfriend ever."

"Thank you Ziggy. Now feed me more strawberries!"

"Gladly." He said reaching over me to get more strawberries.

"So, what's my favorite video game?"

"There is no definite answer to that."

"Yeah there is."

"You have like 10 video games in the number one spot."

"True. But name one and you get a grape and a very tender kiss."

"I only get one grape?"

"And a tender kiss."

"Tender?"

"Very tender."

"Hmmm, tender, you say? Well, I'm going to go with ... Medal Gear Solid. You talk about that one a lot."

"Which one?"

"Babe, I didn't even know there was more than one, so you asking me which one, isn't a good idea."

"Fine, fine. Here's your grape," I said feeding him a big grape. "and your very tender kiss." I kissed him as I said I would. It was full of love and I felt him enjoying it. It was my turn to make him happy. Knock knock knock.

"Ugh. Who's that?"

"I don't know."

"I'll get it." He said getting up and heading towards the door.

"Baby you don't have on enough clothes." I said laughing when he turned around and hunched his shoulders continuing towards the door. I heard him open the door, and he came back in getting in the bed and Big E was following behind him. "E, what are you doing here?"

"I came to get Dolph, it's time for us to leave for the airport."

Dolph groaned. "Ugh, it's time to go already?" He said cuddling as close to me as possible.

"Yes, let's go. We're already running late."

"Nooooo. Don't make me leave."

"Baby, get up." I told him slightly pushing him away from me.

"You want me to leave? Wow, I feel the love babe, I feel it." He said getting up, heading towards the other room to change.

"Baaaabe." I yelled to him and he came out pulling his pants up.

"Yeah?"

"Come here." I said and he came over to my side of the bed. "I don't want you to leave."

"I know babe, I know." He said leaning over and kissing down my arm.

"Don't go to a comedy show and think you still have it, and try and flirt with Amy and other girls like there's no tomorrow." Amy was a comedian who just happened to be his ex-girlfriend, and she was going a skit at the comedy place the night he was going.

"Never."

He sat down on the side of the bed where my stomach was. I closed my eyes and took in his scent. I loved his smell. He pushed my hair back off my face and I could feel him looking at me.

"I'm going to miss you." I said opening my eyes and moving my head slightly back into his hand that was stroking my hair.

"I'm going to miss you too, babe." He said kissing me on my lips this time.

"Let's go Dolph! We need to go!" Big E said ruining our moment.

"I love you." I said letting one tears slip. I really was going to miss him. 3 days without him doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. Three days of torture is what it really is called.

"Hey, don't cry. You'll probably be too busy for the next couple of days to miss me anyway."

"We will too if we can ever get where we need to go!" Big E said with a lot of attitude. "Let's ... Go!"

"Calm yourself dude." Dolph said not looking away from me. "I love you Pikachu. I'll see you Saturday."

"Bye Ziggy. Be safe, and don't be a flirt."

"I can't promise you that I won't text flirtatious and loving words to you." He said kissing me again. I laughed at that because he was trying his best to make me happy ... and that's all I need.

"On Saturday, I'll meet you at the-" I said but was interrupted by him moving to my scalp massaging it. He knew how to calm me down. I love this man. I took a moment to enjoy it and I closed my eyes again.

"You'll meet me where?" He said softly bending down to kiss my cheek.

"At our house." I said enjoying his touch. "I swear you just need to leave now."

"What?"

"If you sit here and continue to do that for more than .5 seconds, I'll probably pounce on you and you won't be able to leave."

"I have no problem with that."

"I do! Let's go Dolph!" Big E said grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door. I saw his sad face as he looked back at me and I felt bad. Big E was being kind of mean. I started getting out of bed and realized I barely clothes on, so I wrapped the sheet around me and scurried to the door.

"Bye Ziggy." I said kissing him.

"Bye babe." He said still with that sad face.

"I'll see you Saturday baby." I said pulling him down by his jacket so we were face to face.

"Definitely."

"Okay, good, now that everyone is on the same page about when we get back, can we leave?" I looked at Big E and gave him a glare and kissed Dolph roughly just to bother him. Dolph knew what I was doing and reciprocated the rough kiss with even more aggression. "Gross."

"I love you babe." He said when we finally had to pull away.

"I love you too. Stay safe and call me when you land."

"Of course."

"Bye."

"Bye." He said closing the door behind him, leaving me in the room alone. I dragged the covers with me back to the bed and laid there and soon fell asleep. I had nothing to do today, but when I woke up at around 4, I called Kaitlyn and invited her over. She came at around 5 and we just sat around having some girl talk, and watching our favorite shows.

"Do you miss Dolph yet?" She asked looking at me.

"Of course. I missed him the second I woke up from my nap."

"Why not before then?"

"Because I can go a couple of hours without him. It's just the days and the ongoing hours."

"Oh. Well you seem to be in a better mood. What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're glowing and your jerk of a boyfriend is nowhere around, so what gives?"

"He's not a jerk." I said blushing and turning my face away from her.

"What happened?!" She said coming closer to me on the couch.

"Well we-" I was interrupted by yours truly texting me.

"Is that him texting you?" She asked knowingly.

"No. It's ... Natalya."

"And what did she say?" She asked snatching my phone from me and running to the other side of the room. "Hey babe, made it to New York just fine. Miss you already. Big E is giving me lectures on how we need to be safe if we're not ready for the responsibilities of a child yet. Save me." She said reading his message, holding the phone up so I couldn't reach it. "I didn't know Natalya was in New York with Big E."

"She's not smarty party. It's Dolph and you know it." I said walking back over to the couch.

"What happened with you two? Last thing I heard, you guys were fighting."

"We squashed it." I only said that to see how much she really wanted to know.

"Did you squash each other or the argument?" She asked laughing.

"You're gross." I said laughing as well. I got my phone back to her and replied to Dolph's message.

'I'm glad you made it safe baby. Don't do anything stupid that you know I'll yell at you about when you get back.'

'Your yelling normally turns into kissing, so I think I'll do something stupid just for an excuse to kiss you.'

'You don't need an excuse. My lips are yours to keep.'

'Likewise Pikachu. My lips are actually missing you a lot too.'

'Well I miss them too.'

'Confession: Mr. & Mrs. Dolph Ziggler actually sounds really good to me. I should make that happen sometime soon.'


	3. We're Just Us

I couldn't breathe when I received that text message and Kaitlyn even saw herself I had stopped breathing. "AJ are you okay?" She asked. I shook my head and gave her my phone to read the text message. She snapped her head back to me after reading it and I nodded. We simultaneously jumped up and started screaming and hugging each other. It was finally here. The time was here.

"What should I say?! I have no clue how to respond to that!" I said calming down and sitting back on the sofa.

"Say what feels right." She said encouragingly.

I took a deep breath and replied.

'Sounds good to me 3'

'I have to go to the signing, I'll text you when I get to the hotel with E, and we're sharing a room'

'Why can't you call?'

'I didn't want to disturb you if you were sleep, and you're most likely with Kaitlyn, and I don't want to interrupt your "girl time" '

'Call me when you get to the hotel okay? And how did you know I was with Kaitlyn?'

'Babe, in the time span of 4 years, I've learned to know almost every move of yours.'

'Awe, that's actually kind of cute'

'I'm so sorry babe, but I really have to go.'

'Bye ZiggyBear'

'Bye Pikachu'

I sat my phone down and looked up to see Kaitlyn waiting for me to finish my conversation.

"So what did he say?"

"He had to go to the signing, but he'll call me tonight."

"Yay! I'll be here so I can eavesdrop."

"You'll probably be sleep when he calls."

"I'm a light sleeper, so if I hear a whisper, I'll definitely be eavesdropping."

"You so need a boyfriend."

"Well until I get one, I'll be eavesdropping." She said with a serious face that made me laugh.

"You do that then." I said playfully pushing her. The rest of the day was laughing, giggling, and shopping. We stopped by a video game store and an action figure store, and bought up almost all the WWE action figures. Of course, I had to buy every single Dolph Ziggler one they had, and I had to reason with a 5 year old that he didn't mean anything to her, and he meant the world to me. She ended up crying so I let her have it. Stupid 5 year old brat. We got back to the hotel and we were dead tired. We changed out of our clothes and passed out in bed. Today was a good day.

12:45 and my phone is ringing. It's Dolph and I sleepily searched through the covers for my phone and I answer. "Hello?"

"You were sleep. I knew you'd be sleep."

"I'm not sleep anymore, so it's fine." I said closing my eyes.

"Babe, go back to sleep."

"No, tell me how your day was."

He sighed knowing I wasn't going back to sleep right now. "It was an average signing except there were more people and they started sending people away, but I made them stay."

"Well aren't you sweet."

"They paid good money to come and just get a simple autograph, I wasn't going to let them leave empty handed."

"That's great baby."

"AJ, please go back to sleep."

"What is Big E doing?" I said completely ignoring his statement.

"Babe..." he said sighing again. "He's in the bathroom getting dressed for bed."

"Tell him when he comes out to stop squeezing into XLs and just to get a XXL."

"I will definitely tell him that."

"I miss you Ziggy."

"I miss you too babe. I can't wait to come back. It's the day before Wrestlemania so we probably won't sleep."

"I'm definitely keeping you up that night." I said trying my hardest to laugh a little.

"That was the weakest laugh ever."

"Sorry, I'm tired."

"Which is why you should go to sleep."

"No, I'm staying on the phone with you."

"If I promise to call you first thing in the morning, will you go to sleep?"

"Maybe."

"Babe I promise I will call you first thing in the morning, just go to sleep. You have your diary and axxess to go to tomorrow, you need sleep."

"Okay, fine."

"Thank you."

"Dolph? Are we still going to see your grandma on Saturday?"

"Of course. Right when you get home from your signing, we're going."

"Okay. I just didn't want you to forget."

"I won't. I love you Pikachu."

"I love you ZiggyBear."

"Sleep well, and dream about me."

"Always."

"Bye babe."

"Bye." I said taking the phone from my ear, pressing 'end', and instantly falling back asleep.

The next morning I woke up to Kaitlyn turning on the shower. "Kaitlyn it's already time to get ready?"

"Yeah, I wasn't going to wake you up until I got finished though." She said going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

I breathed out; getting myself mentally ready for the day ahead and I got my phone to check the time and was greeted by a text message from the world's greatest boyfriend.

"Good morning Pikachu. My day started way earlier than I thought it would, so I sort of broke my promise. I'm sorry. That's why I'm texting you, so you know I didn't forgot about you. Have a great axxess, and make sure you call me and tell me all about it when it's done. I love you babe.'

That text meant the world to me. He didn't just use the excuse that he knew I'd be sleep, he texted me just to let me know he was thinking about me and he cared. Today has just started and was already really good.

Thursday was the signing and axxess. Friday was another signing and axxess. Plus, the diary ... I was pooped. I wanted to go home after this signing and finally see my lovely boyfriend. It was Saturday and Kaitlyn had finally got on my last nerves after the third day. I needed my space. She's my best friend, but she's all I've seen for the past three days and I want a new sight. A tall, blonde, wrestler would be nice.

I finally wrapped up at the signing and headed straight home. I knew convincing Dolph to move to Jersey with me would be a good idea. At times like this, we only had to stay in a hotel when necessary, and didn't have to pack much in our suitcases because our house was 20 minutes away. I pulled up in front of our house and got nervous. Would he be as excited to see me? Maybe, maybe not. I walked in with a smile and it soon faded.

The house was a mess! Dolph was such a neat freak, so this caught me off guard. I walked through the hallway and into the kitchen to see dishes thrown everywhere and the table flipped over, and the chairs knocked down. "DOLPH!" I yelled and heard a small amount of rustling upstairs. Was he okay? What happened? I had to walk though the living room, and the couch cushions were out of the couch, the TV had a crack through it, and the stairs had been trashed with clothes and towels. "DOLPH!" I yelled not getting an answer but still hearing slight rustling as I slowly went up the stairs. "DOLPH!" Still nothing and I had finally made my way up the stairs without breaking my neck on all of our stuff thrown in the hallway leading to our master bedroom. I made it to our room door that was shut and I heard a loud crash. I opened the door and saw our room was in worse condition than the rest of the house put together. Dolph walked out of the bathroom and over to the dresser with our clothes and started throwing all of it out. "Dolph what are you doing!?" I yelled and quickly made my way over to him. He just kept going ... he just kept throwing all of our things out of every single drawer. "Dolph stop! What are you doing!?" I said grabbing his arm and he finally stopped and looked at me with the scariest face I've ever seen. He was breathing super heavy and he was pale and his eyes were blood shot red.

"Where is it?!" He yelled and hurriedly walked away.

"Where's what? Dolph what's going on?"

"YOU PROMISED!" He turned around and screamed at me before going into the bathroom. I quickly followed him.

"What did I promise?" I said walking into the bathroom and seeing the mirror shattered and glass everywhere. He didn't answer. He just went over to the sink and stopped, putting his head down. "Dolph ... you're scaring me ... what's going on?" He once again didn't answer and walked past me out of the bathroom and down to the kitchen. "Talk to me! What's going on Dolph. All I want to do is help!"

He came to a stop in front of the silverware drawer. He opened it and slammed it closed after looking through it for a few seconds. He started breathing even heavier when he looked up and saw the knife set we had on the counter.

"You promised she'd be okay until Saturday. You said she'd make it. You said she was a survivor and that I could have her still. I believed you. I convinced myself that you were right and that she might have a chance. I told myself that the last minute chemo they did on her would work and she'd stay with us a little bit longer. You lied to me! You lied to me AJ and look where it got me. Standing in the middle of my house with things scatter everywhere! I can't think, I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I can feel anything AJ because of you! This is your fault! She's gone because of you and I can't forgive you for that! I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye! I didn't get to tell her I loved her one last time! But life goes on for you doesn't it?! You lost your dad a long time ago so this is a usual feeling for you, but not for me. Did you do this on purpose?! Did you hurt me on purpose?! Did you want to see me lose her just to see me broken and barely alive? Huh? Was that your motive? You did this! This is or fault!" I didn't know what to say. I just stood there crying and letting him yell at me. He picked up a knife and twisted it in his hands and I immediately knew what he was thinking, and I wasn't going to let him do it.

"Dolph stop! You're not thinking straight!" I said walking over to him. He continued to twirl it around anyway and he started heading back upstairs. I ran after him and right when he was walking into our bathroom, I grabbed his wrist. He swung around and the knife landing directly in front of my face, only a few inches away. We both were breathing heavy and didn't move an inch. "Baby talk to me. What's going on?" I saw his face soften a bit and I slowly felt him let go of the knife and it soon hit the floor. I was still holding his wrist and he looked over at it because it was still slightly in my face from where the knife had been held. "Dolph, did ... did your grandma die?"

He looked at me for a minute and then looked away slowly nodding his head. I could feel the tears starting to prick my eyes again. The other day on text I told Dolph his grandma would make it to Saturday and he could spend his last day with her in peace. I was wrong.

"I'm so sorry." We still hadn't moved from our position and it looked like he was fine with it. I wanted to hug him though, kiss him, and let him know it was going to be okay. All the things he said in the kitchen were out of sadness and anger. He wasn't able to say goodbye before she finally slipped away and that broke him. "I know what this feels like Dolph. I know exactly how you're feeling, so you're not alone."

"Briley called me early this morning and told me." He said finally speaking, but his voice was shaky. "She actually died last night. Nobody had the heart to tell me until they had to."

"Baby ..."

"I don't want you feeling sorry for me, I'm fine."

"Look around you Dolph, you're not fine. What were you even looking for?"

"She said in her will that she left me something special inside our house during her last visit here. She said it would be in the most obvious place and I can't find it. I just can't."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. She said it would mean a lot to me."

"I'll help you look for it, just please calm down and talk to me, and stop going around throwing stuff."

"She ... She's ... Gone." He said letting a tear slip. I wiped it away with my hand, which finally made us change positions.

"I know baby, I know. Come on, let's find it."

We walked downstairs hand-in-hand which surprised me. I could still feel how tense he was and I knew what to do to solve that. When we finished with this, I knew exactly what to do to solve his tension problem.

"Okay, so let's look through all the things you haven't flipped over first, okay?" I said not letting go of his hand yet.

He didn't say anything, he just walked us over to the other side of the room, and he slid down the wall. I went down with him, and wrapped my arms around him. He laid his head on my shoulder and just slowly cried until he couldn't anymore. I loved this man with all my heart, and to see him like this was heartbreaking. His grandma was all he had other than me and it was like one-half of him was gone now.

"Ziggy, let's look for it. Maybe when you find it, you'll feel better."

"What's that?" He asked pointing to a book under the coffee table.

"Oh, your grandma-" it hit us both at the same time. His grandma gave us the book for Christmas ... which was her last visit here. We both raced over to the coffee table and he grabbed the book. It was the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. "Do you want me to open it?"

He shook his head and took a deep breath. I grabbed his free hand and he finally opened the book. We saw a small cut in the center and a ring placed in the whole, with a letter attached to it.

Dolph picked up the letter and started to read it out loud. "Dolphin, I only have a couple more months on this Earth, and I wanted give you something that would give you a small push. If you're reading this it means my time on this Earth is up. This is the ring your grandpa proposed to me with and I kept it all these years in hope you'd find a girl worth giving it to and you finally have. You know I have never liked your previous girlfriends but she's different. She cares about you and 100% only wants to be with you because she loves you. I know you've never had that and I know you're really stubborn, but give it to her. Make her happy and do it. Trust me; the look on her face will be the best feeling in the world. Dolphin, don't get depressed and don't stop your life just because I'm gone. The fact that I'm gone should motivate you to push forward and start your own family to tell your stories to. Be good, and make me proud. Tell AJ I love her too, and take care of her. I'm looking down at you so I know what you're doing. Love you so much baby, Grandma."

"She's right. You should push forward and make her proud. Her being gone should be your motivation."

"No. Her being gone isn't my motivation." I looked at him confused. "You are." He said looking at me with loving eyes. He looked down and took my left hand and slid the ring onto my finger. "Let that stay there until I propose to you okay?"

I nodded with a smile and kissed him. He actually made an effort to kiss me back. It was time for me to start de-stressing him. "Come here." I said standing up and putting my hand out for him. He looked at it for a bit and finally took it.

"Where are we going?"

"Upstairs."

"Why?"

"Stop asking so many questions." I said guiding him into our room. "Grab some sweats and a shirt, change, and get in the bed ... I'll be right back."

"Okay?" He said confused and I walked out. I came back later in some fresh clothes and he was laying in the bed like I told him to. I crawled onto the bed and lay on top of him.

"Why is the bed one of the only places you didn't flip over?" I asked looking straight at him after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know. I guess a part of me knew I still had to have a place to sleep."

"How are we going to clean this up?"

"Eh, I'll call the cleaning lady."

"Ziggy you know I hate calling her. I feel like we're using her."

"We pay her a very descent amount of money for it so I don't see why."

"True." I said getting comfortable on top of him. I felt him move too and his hands made their way around me waist. I bent down and kissed him softly.

"You're way too good to me." He said pushing my hair back.

"What do you mean?"

"I just yelled at you and blamed you for my grandma ... dying, and you're laying here kissing me like it never happened."

"Baby ... I know you didn't mean any of that."

"But I said it, and I shouldn't have. I let all of this get to me, and I took it out on the one person trying to help me."

"I was too busy crying to take offense to what you were saying."

"I made you cry babe, and that is just ..." He paused and looked me in the eyes. "I hate being the one that hurt you."

"Seeing you like this is hurting me baby, not you yelling at me. That was full of hurt and pain and it wasn't you, so I didn't take it personally."

"But I said it."

"Did you mean it?"

"But I said it."

"Did you mean it?" I asked again.

"But I-" he started, but I interrupted him.

"Did you mean it?"

"No." He said finally answering my question.

"Okay then. Unless you meant it to purposely hurt my feelings, then I don't care. Right now isn't about me, it's about you."

"I'm sorry babe."

I rolled my eyes and breathed out. "Stop apologizing!" That kind of came out louder and angrier than I wanted it to.

"See, you're mad at me." He said laying me next to him on the bed. I was getting really comfortable on top of him, so being moved wasn't something that I wanted to happen.

"I'm not mad. I just want you to stop apologizing for something I'm not mad about."

Dolph groaned and swung his legs around to the side of the bed as he sat up. I sat up too and came up behind him, laying my head on his shoulder and wrapping my legs around him.

"Baby ... don't get sad again." I said kissing his shoulder. Muscle shirts actually come in handy every now and then.

"I'm not." He said trying to convince himself more than me. I saw him stare out of our bedroom window into the world.

"Human Centipede?" I asked him and he shook his head. Obviously a scary movie wasn't what he wanted.

"Sleep?" Once again he shook his head.

"Here, I'll call Big E, and he can buy us dinner tonight." He hunched his shoulders, letting me know he didn't care. I pulled my phone out and called him and set up everything, and turns out E was in our driveway about to come in. We still hadn't changed our position. Dolph seemed pretty okay with where we were at now.

"Ziggy don't go mute on me." I looked down and pressed my forehead up against his shoulder. "Big E's outside waiting on us, if you still want to go."

He hunched his shoulders and got up, taking me with him, because my legs were around. He was feeling sorry for himself, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was blaming this on himself now. I got down and went to change my clothes, which was hard because most of them were on the floor. Luckily, Dolph hadn't gotten to the closet yet, so I pieced together an outfit in there.

"Come on Ziggy." I said grabbing his hand as we left the house and headed to the car. "You want to drive our car, or ride with E?" He hunched his shoulders looking down at the ground. I sighed and made the decision we would ride with E.

"Hey guys." E said as we got in the car.

"Hey." I said with a smile. Hopefully this trip would take Dolph's mind off of things. Getting away from the house should be good for him.

Dolph stayed silent and looked out his window. We had a seat in between us and I chose to change that. As we got into the highway, I unbuckled my seatbelt and moved into the seat between us. He looked over for a moment, saw I moved, and continued to stare out of the window. I felt my phone vibrate and Big E had text me.

'What's up with him?'

'Nothing.'

'Are you guys okay?'

'No.'

'What's up?'

'Let him tell you.'

'what's wrong?'

I didn't respond. I didn't have the heart to type anymore about this. I looked over at Dolph and I noticed him unknowingly rubbing my thigh. He was so deep into thought that he didn't even notice until we got to the restaurant.

"Oh, sorry." He said finally realizing.

"You act like you can't touch me." I said getting out of the car after him. I grabbed his hand as we walked into Olive Garden. We decided to get a booth and Dolph and I sat on one side and E on the other.

"So what are you guys getting? The usual?" Big E asked trying to start conversation.

"I'm not hungry." Dolph said quietly. I looked over at him sipping my drink with a sad face.

"Baby ..." I said putting my glass down and grabbing his hand under the table.

"I'm really not hungry." He said faking a smile that I could see right through.

The waitress came over and we started to order. "I want the steak and veggies and mash potatoes" Big E said.

"I want the all you can eat soup, and he wants the all you can eat salad." I ordered for me and Dolph, even though he said he wasn't hungry. I knew what he would have ordered if he was feeling okay. Dolph looked over at me with a confused look. "You're eating whether you like it or not."

"Babe I'm not hungry."

"Too bad." I said closing the gap between us and looking up at him.

He looked down at me with those perfect blue eyes that were filled with pain that I couldn't take away. What I would give to take that away.

After a while of no talking and me staring at Dolph for a while, Big E tried talking to us. "So are you ready for Wrestlemania tomorrow?" He asked perkily.

"Ziggy ... don't do this." I said ignoring what Big E just said and looking up at Dolph again.

"I'm not." He said kissing my forehead.

"You won't even kiss me!"

"Babe -"

"I know you're feeling horrible right now, and I might be being selfish, but don't do this to yourself or me. All I want to do is help you baby, but I can't if you go mute and won't let me in." I said kissing his jaw that was right above my face.

"I'm sorry."

"I swear if you say you're sorry one more time, I won't talk to you for a week."

"I don't know what's wrong with me. My grandma and then Wrestlemania being tomorrow is stressing me out, and I don't know how to let out how I feel without yelling."

"I know Ziggy, I know. When we get home, I definitely know a way to de-stress you though."

"Really? how?"

"Its not something you've never done before. We do it a lot unless you want to be a meanie and not do it with me."

"So it involves both of us?"

"Only me and you."

"And what kind of things will we be doing?"

"A little of this ..." I said bringing him down to kiss me.

"Is there more?" He asked starting to smile, which made my heart skip a beat knowing I was making him happier.

"It depends."

"Depends on what?"

"How tired I am when we get home."

"You're a night owl, so I'm not worried about that one."

"True, very true." I smiled and he kissed me. I loved that even when he wasn't feeling his best, he put everything he had in just one kiss. That was my excuse for deepening the kiss and carrying it on until Big E ruined our moment.

"We're in public, you guys remember that don't you?" He said rolling his eyes and looking around to see if anyone was looking.

"I love you baby." I said still looking at him.

"I love you too babe." He responded trying his hardest to smile.

We got our food a little later and Dolph ate a little. I noticed anytime it got silent, he'd start slipping back into his sadness. I tried to keep up conversation as much conversation as possible but it was hard when both the men in the group had either an attitude or was sad. I had to restrain myself from slapping E for some rude comments he was saying because I guess he felt I was paying more attention to Dolph and not him.

We got home at around 10 and I'll admit I was tired and irritated. Big E was being a total jerk the rest of dinner and Dolph looked taken back by most of the things he was saying. Dolph got straight in the bed after changing his clothes. I sighed and went into the bathroom changing my clothes too.

"Ziggy ... you sleep?" I said crawling into my side of the bed. He had his back turned to me so I wasn't sure.

"No." He mumbled but still didn't turn over. I know he's hurting, but I'm not going to let him shut me out. I got out of the bed and went over to his side. He had his eyes closed, so when I pulled the covers back and laid on what was left of his side, it surprised him. I was literally on the edge of the bed, so he could easily push me off if he didn't want me there.

I just looked at him. He had finally opened his eyes so he was looking at me too. "I want to know what's wrong with you. This is deeper than your grandma and Wrestlemania tomorrow. And don't try and tell me that it's nothing because I know it is. I know you like the back of my hand Dolph and seeing you like this is depressing because you won't let me help."

He moved slightly and I had to move with him to make sure I didn't fall off the bed. "Briley's having a birthday party for me ..."

"Okay? And?" I said expecting more.

"Its next week, and all my family is going to be there."

"Baby I knew about this a long time ago, what's the problem though?"

"Wait, you knew about the party?"

"Yeah, it was originally supposed to be a surprise party, but then more and more people started getting added on the list, and it was impossible to keep it from you."

"Oh ... well ... you knew my family was coming?"

"Yes, I helped Briley call and invite people. Why?"

"You know how I feel about my family and you helped invite them?!" He said sitting up and looking at me startled.

"Baby I know you guys aren't on good terms right now, but you can't avoid them for the rest of your life."

"Yes I can. I've been doing it really well for the past couple of years."

"Do you hear yourself? You haven't talked to your family in years!" I said sitting up and becoming face to face with him.

"That's not your decision to make if I need to or I don't!" He slightly yelled at me. I felt tears burn the rim of my eye.

"I was just trying to help."

"Would you mind consulting me before you do something like this next time? I would greatly appreciate it." His voice had not gone down yet and that made the burning tears finally run down my face.

"I was just trying to help Dolph! Why are you so mad?" I asked through my tears. He must be pretty upset because he made no attempt to see if I was okay or wipe my tears.

"If you haven't noticed I'm not close with my family and I've successfully ignored all of them for the last couple of years, and I want to keep it like that. I've been fine without them. I don't need them! I don't need anybody!"

"Well that's good to know." I said wiping my tears. He just said he didn't need me.

"No, babe, I didn't mean that."

"Say what you mean and mean what you say! I let it slide earlier because of the news about our grandma but there's no excuse this time. You're in your right mind and you said it." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"Babe of course I need you, I just don't need them." He said grabbing my hand.

"You said you didn't need anybody!" I said snatching my hand away which scared him a little.

"You're not just anybody! You're my baby! You're my Pikachu. You're my everything. I couldn't go more than a day without you without having some type is mental break down. Babe ... trust me when I say I need you."

"Awe, baby ... that was cute!" I squealed and leaped over to him. He went all the way back and I laid my head on his chest. "I love you."

"I love you more." He said kissing my forehead. "Wrestlemania tomorrow, are you ready?"

"As long as you're there, I'm ready." I said slowly drifting off to sleep.

Note to self: never to wake Dolph up EVER again! After 4 years you would think I would have learned by now.

"Noooo." He groaned.

"Baby we have to get up!" I yelled as I tried to pull him out of bed.

"Leave me alone." He groaned again.

"Look, don't make me bring out the heavy amo." I said threatening him.

"Baaabeee don't!" He said and his head shot up.

"Get up then."

"That's not fair! You're going to take away my sexy Puerto Rican love bug for a week!"

"Well that's going to be your fault if you don't get up."

"But that runs into my birthday and I want you on my birthday!"

"I guess you're just going to have to suck it up."

"You better be lucky I love my sexy Puerto Rican." He said getting up and walking past me.

I grabbed his wrist and he turned around. "I love you too." I said smiling.

He made a face and went into the bathroom to get dressed today was it.

"E what is your problem?!" Dolph yelled when we all got back to our locker room. It was silent the whole way back. We had our Wrestlemania moment and it wasn't what we had hoped for.

"I have no problem!" Big E yelled back at him, slamming the door when we came in.

"Why did you just leave me in there by myself!?

"I tried to help but I couldn't. You act like I wanted out team to lose."

"You stayed on the outside as Kane choke slammed me!"

"If you were as good as you say you are, you would have kicked out!"

"Excuse me?" Dolph said as him and Big E stood face to face.

"You heard me! If you weren't so worried about getting in AJ's pants all the time maybe you could concentrate on our match!"

"I can do whatever I want! She my girlfriend if you haven't noticed for the last four years."

"Yeah, and for the last four years you've distracted her from what she's always wanted."

"What!?"

"Now she's worried about marriage and kids instead of working! She's worried about if you're mad at her instead of hanging out with me and Kaitlyn on the weekend!"

"That's not my fault! That was her decision, not mine!"

"Look, I don't care, but you need to step your game up in our matches."

"Me?! Last time I checked I'm the one who's been doing this for 8 years, not you!"

"And it looks like you're slipping a little doesn't it?"

"NO!" I said hopping in between them before Dolph pounced on him.

"No let him go AJ, let him see how fast I can knock him out!" Big E yelled trying to move me out the way so he could get to Dolph.

"No! Stop it!" I yelled.

"I swear I'm going to kill him!" Dolph yelled.

"What are you going to do? Kill me with your Ziggle Wiggle?" E yelled back at him. This was getting tough. Two wrestlers were pushing me in between them and it was hard to keep them apart.

"That's the best insult you have?" Look Mr. I Can't Wear Anything More Than A Singlet On TV, you need to chill before you don't wake up tomorrow."

"AJ you're going to let him talk to me like that?" Big E said looking down at me.

"Dolph that was mean." I said turning to him.

"You're on his side?!" Dolph asked surprised.

"Of course she is! I've been there for her way longer than you have and that's not going to change." E said before I could answer.

"Wow." He said shaking his head.

"This has gotten way out of hand!" I yelled over them. "I'm not on anyone's side! You two are acting like 5 year olds!"

"AJ you need to choose. Him or me." Big E said glaring at Dolph.

"I'm not choosing anybody! This needs to stop!" I said feeling tears come to my eyes for some reason.

"Choose AJ, or I'm walking out now." E said threatening me.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I'm tired of being backseat to you and your stupid boyfriend. We were best friends long before he came along and I thought we still were."

"We are!" I yelled through some tears that finally slipped.

"No we're not! Not only do I have to deal with you two on screen, but I walk backstage and it's even grosser than it is on TV. I'm sorry AJ, but I'm not doing this anymore, me or him?"

"I can't make that decision."

"Don't." I heard Dolph say and I turned around. "He means more to you than I do and he's right, he's been here longer. So choose him, and I know it's going to hurt you more for him to go than me."

"Baby-"

"Seriously. For now, just let him have his moment. Let him think he has you, and I'll swoop back in and a take you away again." He said trying to make me laugh. It didn't work.

"No ... I'm not giving you up for him." I said turning back towards E. "The fact that you're making me choose is stupid. I'm not risking this relationship for a friendship that you even said yourself was over the moment me and Dolph started dating. So no, I'm not picking you, and know this is your fault and not mine."

"I see how it is." Big E said shaking his head.

"Leave." I said pointing to the door and he immediately left.

"You didn't have to do that." He said softly and turning around walking to the other side of the room.

"Yes I did. You mean everything to me. Friends come and go, but you're definitely here to stay." I said sitting down on his lap.

"I guess." He wouldn't look at me.

"Did you want me to choose him and not you?"

"No, don't get me wrong, that fact that you would choose me over someone you're close to is amazing, but I don't want you to regret it."

"I won't regret anything." I said lifting my left hand and pointing to his grandma's ring. I leaned over and kissed him. "You definitely stole the show tonight babe." I mumbled against his lips.

"That kiss was cut short though. I had to keep it PG for all the John Cena fans in the audience." I laughed at that.

"We can finish it now if you want to." I said trying to reel him in.

"Definitely back at the hotel."

"Human Centipede?" I asked but he shook his head smiling. "Sleep?" He shook his head again. "Cuddle?" He smiled and picked me up and brought me over to the couch. "What would the guys say if they knew your favorite thing to do was cuddle?"

"That's why we don't cuddle in public." He said cuddling closer to my body.

"I love you Ziggy." I said looking up and seeing him sleep. Wrestlemania didn't work out too well for our team but it turned out good for me and him.

"Knock on the door." I said encouraging him. He finally turned the knob and was greeted by loads of family members he had been avoiding. "Hey dad."

"Son, how have you been?"

"Great. This is AJ."

"This is her? I expected something completely different." His dad was drunk and I don't know why but it took me this long to realize it.

"Hi Mr. Ziggler." I said trying to be polite.

"Hi." He said simply and randomly walked away.

"This is why I don't come around anymore. It's not even his party and he's drinking and he's already drunk." Dolph was getting agitated.

"Baby it's your birthday, don't do this."

"I'll try."

"There's Briley! Let's go talk to him." I pulled on his arm but he didn't budge. "Heavy ammo?" I said referring to me taking away all romantic doings for a week. He rolled his eyes and started to walk with me. "Hey Briley!" I said excitedly walking up to him.

"Hey AJ! How's it going? My big bro treating you right?"

"He's iffy sometimes but nothing I can't handle."

"So how have you been big bro?" He asked but Dolph was too busy looking at something else. I nudged him.

"Huh?" He said.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while." Briley asked with a huge smile.

"I've been cool." He answered simply.

"Anything new in the business I should know about?"

"Ugh, nope. None that I can think of." Dolph said like there was no problem that he was doing this.

A while later everyone gathered around for the toast. Everyone was to go around and say something about Dolph. Most were the cliché 'I wish you many more birthdays to come' and 'I love you, happy birthday'.

"Umm, gosh, well you're my big brother so I could say some things to embarrass you, but I think I'll save that for my birthday. Anyway, I really am glad that you came back home for your birthday. It means the world to me that you did and I always looked up to you growing up and I still do. I can't wait until my debut just to see if I can show off as good as you. I love you bro, and uh, Happy Birthday." Briley said genuinely. I could tell Dolph wanted to believe every word but it was hard.

"Well I think I'm going to be the only one that cries during their speech, but um, here we go." I started. "You mean the world to me and I can't think of my life without you." Here come the tears. "A long time ago I remember telling you that you'd go places and you went there and you've gone so much farther and I love you and I'm so proud of you and I'm babbling now, sorry." I was slightly embarrassed so I put my head down, but everyone told me to keep going so I did. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you deserve this day to be just about you. If all the other days are sold up, this is the one full day that's about you. You always take care of me and make sure I'm okay and protect me from things that I usually have under control, but the fact that you do it means the world to me." I wiped a few tears away. "I've been the luckiest girl in the world for 4 years now and I plan on keeping us going because us is the best thing in the world besides your soft and squishy butt that I can't seem to stop touching." Everyone laughed and I saw Dolph blushing a little. "Oh, and your hair, let's not even go there. I could talk about everything I love about you but that would take at least a day and a half and I don't think we have that kind of time. So, happy birthday baby, I love you and... to you." I said raising my glass of apple cider and wiping the last of my tears away. We all cheered and clanked our drinks in celebration.

Dolph came up to me and startled me a little when he kissed me. It wasn't rough, but it wasn't the lightest kiss. He was grateful for my speech and that I was his and that was what kept my heart beating. Knowing that I was the one that this man depended on, and that he loved me, made me feel warm on the inside.

"Happy birthday baby." I said pulling away smiling.

"Thank you Mrs. Ziggler."

"You're - Woah, woah, woah, did you just say-" Before I could say anything he was already down on one knee.

"Baby cakes, I love you with all my heart. You said this day is all about me, and there's no me without you, so will you do the honors of making me the happiest guy in the world? April Jeanette Lee ... will you marry me?" He said smiling at my reaction. I was crying all over again and smiling and overwhelmed at the same time."

"Yes!" I screamed at him and he got up and pulled me into the biggest hug he could. "Oh my God baby! Thank you so much!" I said hanging onto the hug and still crying.

"You deserve to be Mrs. Ziggler babe."

"I can't believe this right now." I said wiping the streaming tears.

"Grandma was right, he reaction you had was amazing and I'll never forget it."

"She was a wise woman."

"You know what she taught me and I hung onto the most?"

"What?"

"She once said 'the mistakes we make in life never reoccur, but re-present themselves the same and it's up to you to change the outcome.' I didn't understand it at all at first, but now I do."

"What does it mean?"

"That I'm not going to make the mistake and be scared again of you wanting to start a family and get married. My mom's death held me back a lot, but we're different."

"We're us, baby. We're just us." I said and kissed him.


	4. Someone Like You

*_**I'm changing this to a regular P.O.V. instead of AJ's***_

"Okay, so what date should we make it? Like should it be in the summer? Or the spring? Or the fall? Or winter? I don't think I want a winter wedding though, so what should we do? How about we choose spring? I think that would be cute. We could have it out in a garden, with a lot of flowers, and roses, and a cute scene to look at, and … Dolph? Are you listening to me?" AJ had been obsessed with asking about the wedding and getting it planned since he had asked her about a month ago.

"Huh? Yeah babe, I'm listening." He said snapping out of his trance he was in.

"Dolph! You have to tell me what you want in this wedding! We don't even know the dates yet!"

"AJ …" he said looking away from her. They had been sitting down in a pretty nice restaurant that Dolph wanted to treat AJ to. She had accepted the offering thinking this could be the alone time they needed to talk about the wedding plans.

"What's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Dolph, I know when something is wrong with you, so please, let's just spare the argument where I pry it out of you, and you just tell me what's wrong." AJ kept wondering to herself why she was already slightly agitated with him. He wasn't as exciting as she was, so maybe that was it.

"AJ, nothing is wrong."

"You're lying to me now."

"I'm not lying! Nothing is wrong with me." He said trying to but on a convincing smile.

"Why are you doing this?" AJ asked as the waitress came back over to the table with Dolph's credit card. Of course he had paid and they were on their way out the door of the restaurant.

"Doing what?"

"We finally have everything we've both wanted in our relationship and you want to be distant and fight with me." By now they had entered the car and AJ completely turned in her seat looking at him.

"I'm confused, what have we always wanted?" Dolph didn't take his eyes off the road.

"We wanted to be together first of all, and then we wanted marriage, and then kids, and to be this big happy family."

Dolph sighed heavily. To be honest, he hadn't wanted all of that … well at least not right now. "That's what you've always wanted AJ, not me." He had to be completely honest.

"Excuse me?" she said as her eyes widened.

"AJ, you have to admit that all those things are things _you've _wanted for us. Name one of those things that I've just been pressuring us to do."

"So I'm _pressuring _you? Wow. Thanks for the information." AJ said looking at him in disbelief.

"AJ that's not what I mean."

"You can't even call me a nickname or something. You've been calling me AJ all day and acting like it's okay for you to do that."

"I didn't know I couldn't call you by your name."

"We've been together for 4 years Dolph, you should know that I don't prefer you calling me almost anything but AJ!"

"Well I'm _so _sorry _babe_." Dolph didn't feel that she deserved to be called babe when she was starting an argument over the stupidest thing.

"Oh now you're just being sarcastic."

"I don't understand what you want from me! I can't win for losing with you! I call you a nickname and you're still mad at me!" Dolph said rolling his eyes.

"You are such a - DOLPH WATCH OUT!" She screamed and everything went blank.

They had been hit. They were hit by a drunk driver. A big 18-wheeler had hit them.

AJ sat beside Dolph's hospital bed, holding his hand, and crying. She kept blaming herself for this. If she hadn't been so petty and wasn't yelling at him, maybe this wouldn't have happened. The massive truck had run into Dolph's side of the car and flipped them over a couple of times, and they finally landing upside down. They were both knocked out on impact, but AJ woke back up when they were putting her in the paramedics. Dolph on the other hand … hadn't woken up for the last two days.

"Ma'am, visiting hours are over." A nurse came in and told her.

"I'm not a visitor okay? I am this man's fiancé. I _deserve _to be in here with him." AJ demanded in a serious tone that sort of scared the nurse.

"He's not even awake yet." The nurse said reasoning with her.

"He will be soon and I'm not going to miss it. I don't care if he is only moving his freaking pinky in his sleep, _I want to be there._"

"You've been here for the last two days, not including when you were here recovering. Look, tonight has to be your last night, and then we're going to have to ask you to leave."

AJ's heart was slowly breaking. She was going to be forced to leave his side and that's not something she wanted to do. "Okay." She said quietly and walking back to his bedside.

A couple months passed by and it was diagnosed that yes, Dolph was in a coma. He hadn't budged an inch from the spot they had laid him on in the bed, and that was depressing of course for AJ. She cried herself to sleep every night thinking about the scenario and how things could have played out differently. If only she hadn't yelled at him.

"Dolph … I hope you can hear me." AJ said tearing up at his state. "I _know _you can hear me." She paused, grabbing his hand. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "This is all my fault … I shouldn't have been yelling at you, and you could have focused on the road. I shouldn't have been pressuring you with all that wedding talk. I'm sorry Dolph, I'm so sorry." AJ was breaking down right here in the middle of his room. "Everyone misses you at work. They always give me flowers and stuffed animals and things that you like. The show isn't the same without you. The new storyline is that you quit." She paused again, squeezing her eyes tight, letting the tears flood. "Baby, I miss you. I haven't seen those bright blue eyes in months. I haven't cuddled with you in months. I haven't touched you how I want to in months. Please wake up. Do it for me … please?"

AJ left that night sad and alone. That's what she had been for the past months … sad and alone. Briley had tried his hardest to comfort her and get her mind off it but it didn't help. Nothing helped.

It was 2:34 in the morning and AJ was receiving a call from the hospital telling her to get there as fast as she could.

"I'm here! I'm here!" She yelled coming from down the hallway to the circle of Dolph's doctors. "What is it? Is he okay?"

All of the doctors just smiled at her. "He's awake." One of them finally said. AJ didn't even say anything. Instead she ran into his room and was greeted by him already waiting for her to walk through the door. She paused at the door and immediately gasped. Was this real?

"What are you doing?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"They called me and told me that you finally woke up. How are you feeling?" AJ said coming over and pushing some lose hair out of his face.

"Woah, what are you doing? I have a girlfriend."

AJ was confused, but slightly laughed it off. "I'm not your girlfriend anymore Dolph."

"How do you know my name?" he asked confused.

"What are you talking about? I'm your fiancé that would be weird if I didn't know your name."

"No you're not. Amy's my girlfriend."

AJ couldn't breathe. He thought Amy was his girlfriend still. No … he couldn't have forgotten their amazing 4 years together. He couldn't forget every 'I love you' and every kiss and every hug and every blissful night they spent together. No … this wasn't happening. This _wasn't _happening. She closed her eyes in hope of when she opened them back, this would all be a dream … but it wasn't.

"Dolph … you're … you're not with Amy anymore. You're engaged to me." She said shakily.

"What are you talking about? You're not even my type! Where's Amy? I want to see Amy!" he started yelling at her, making all the doctors come in.

"What's the problem?" One doctor asked.

"She keeps saying we're together and we're not! She wants me to be with her and I don't even know her! Will you _please _call Amy and tell her to come get me from this stupid place?" Dolph said with such irritation in his voice that it made AJ walk out.

She walked out and saw Big E standing there; arms open, waiting for her to hug him. He couldn't have picked a better time to be a good friend. "He—He—He forgot me!" She said crying into him. "He doesn't know he loves me, and we're engaged, and that I love him too."

"It's okay, AJ. I'm pretty sure his memory will come back soon."

Little did Big E know, that was far from the truth.

_A Couple Days Later_

"Dolph come on." AJ said crossing her arms.

"No. I want to go to my house." He demanded.

"This _is _your house. We live together. We've lived together for the past 2 and a half years." AJ was getting irritated with him going against everything she said. She knew he didn't remember, but he wasn't even trying to.

"You know what I think? I think you're kidnapping me and telling me all this crap just so you can have me all to yourself and I can't be with Amy. Was this your plan? To break us up?" he asked staring her down.

"I didn't break you guys up Dolph! For the last time, you started dating like 3 years after you and Amy broke up." She said finally getting into the house and flopping onto their bed once she reached upstairs.

"This is our room?" he asked looking around.

"Yes."

Dolph paused in the doorway for a moment. "So tell me about … us." He said flopping down next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Since you say we've been together for a long time there must be some things I should know, right? If I'm going to be staying here and seeing you all the time, I at least want to know the history."

"Okay … well uh, I'm AJ. That's a nickname, but my real name is April Jeanette Lee. I'm 26 and we've been dating since I was 22. You asked me to marry you about 6 months ago, about a month before the accident."

"What exactly happened in the accident?" he asked curiously.

"We were at a restaurant and I was talking so much about our wedding plans and stuff, you got slightly irritated with me, and we got into this argument. It was dark outside and I was yelling at you, and it was just so bad and … out of nowhere a truck came and hit us. After that, I can't remember anything until they were putting me into the paramedic's truck."

"I'm sorry …" he said looking down.

"For what?"

"For not remembering any of this and being a total jerk to you. I should have given you a chance from the beginning and I was horrible."

"It's okay. You don't even know who I am. I can't be mad that you for losing your memory." She said grabbing his hand. "Sorry, that's a habit." She said quickly letting go.

"It's okay." He said smiling that smile she had missed so much. "I want to get to know you. I want to remember why I want to marry you."

"You do? I thought I wasn't your type?" she said messing with him.

"That was me being a jerk. I'm sorry for that. You're a really beautiful and sweet girl, and I hope you give me the chance to see what I loved about you."

"Of course you can Zig—" AJ stopped herself.

"What?" he asked confused.

"I was going to call you something, but it's nothing." She said putting her head down.

"Like a nickname? We had nicknames for each other?"

"A lot actually. You had a lot for me and I had a lot for you."

"What were they? I want things to go back to the way they were before the accident. Maybe that will make me remember." He said full of hope, which made AJ feel a small bit of her own hope.

"Well you called me babe, Pikachu, snuggle muffin, baby cakes, and random things you'd come up with. I used to call you baby, Ziggy, Ziggybear, and random things I'd come up with." She said slightly laughing.

"Oh okay, that actually sounds like me." He said laughing as well.

"So how do we usually sleep? Like cuddled up or do we each have our own side, or …"

"It depends on how we're feeling that night. Sometimes we want our space and sometimes we don't."

"I just remember from previous relationships I wasn't much of a cuddler, am I now?"

"Most definitely. You love to snuggle up to me in the middle of the night. You would hold me tighter and make me feel all warm, knowing that you wanted to be closer to me." She said smiling at the memory.

"Oh, well I'm tired now; we can go to bed if you want to?"

"Sure." She said getting under the covers and immediately cuddling into his side. This was the first time in many months she got to do this. So memory or no memory, she was cuddling with him tonight. When she got as close as she could, he instantly took hold of her and there they were. "I missed this." She said closing her eyes as he turned over to face her, but not once moving away from her.

"Us like this?" he asked curiously.

"Yes." She said simply.

"Well I'll do this with you all you want. I want things to go back to normal." He kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She said digging her head into his chest and soon falling asleep. This was the first night she actually got to sleep longer than 2 or 3 hours.

AJ woke up the next morning and was stunned to see Dolph still there … looking at her with a serious face. "I had a dream last night, and randomly an image of you popped up. I … I don't know what it means or where you were, or anything. I just … I can't remember!" he said getting worked up and angry with himself.

"It's okay. You'll remember sooner or later okay? I'm going to be here, so when you do remember, everything will be back to normal." She said starting to build a real, hopeful smile.

"Is it bad that I want to kiss you right now?" he asked turning up his lips.

AJ laughed and moved around under the covers a little. "I mean … I'm not opposed to it."

"Good." He said kissing her immediately. The kiss wasn't just a kiss. AJ felt a burst of hope and Dolph felt a spark of something he couldn't put his finger on. He pulled away and looked at her curiously. "There it is again." he said confused.

"What?"

"The image I had a dream about. It was you laughing at something."

"That's the same one from your dream?"

"The exact same one. It only comes in flashes so I never get to see where you are or what you're doing. You're just smiling really big and looking extra cute –"

"Did you say I was looking extra cute?" she asked with a smirk building on her face.

He blushed slightly and looked away from her. "I woke up at 3 this morning and I looked over and saw you there. You looked so peaceful and comfortable. Everything around me seems so familiar, I just don't know why or how. I want to start over." He said looking back at her.

"Start over how Dolph?"

"I want to act like this never happened and I want me and you to start over. I was serious when I said I wanted to know why I loved you so much, and why you meant so much to me. I want to start over. I want to go on a first date with you, and take you home, and tell you corny jokes. I want to date you for 4 years again and see what you see in us."

"You want to start _all _the way over?" she asked shocked.

"Yes. I want my life back how it was. I can't go around not knowing what happened to me over the last 7 years."

AJ started to tear up. He wanted to be with her even though he didn't know who she was. He wanted to get to know her all over again. He _wanted _to love her all over again. "Sure." She said getting out of the bed and walking into the bathroom.

"Which one is my sink?"

"The left one." She said pointing to the one with all his things by it.

"Oh. I should have noticed all the stuff by the sink." He said laughing a little.

They got ready and hung out downstairs for a while before AJ got a call from Kaitlyn asking if she wanted to hang out. She accepted and left Dolph all the information where she would be, just in case of an emergency.

"So how is he?" Kaitlyn asked taking a sip of her drink.

"He's fine. He just doesn't remember anything from the past 7 years. His last memory is with Amy." AJ said trying to still be positive and not sound as though this was hurting her.

"He doesn't remember you at all?"

"He has no clue who I am." AJ said as they started to leave the restaurant and walk down the street. They had gone shopping earlier so they had a few bags each and they were having fun, being girls.

Out of nowhere, Dolph came up to them as they were walking. "Hi." He said simply.

"Hey Dolph, what are you doing here?" AJ asked confused.

"Oh, well I saw you walking with your lovely friend and I couldn't keep walking without saying hello." He said with a cheeky smile. AJ obviously wasn't catching on. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

AJ narrowed her eyes at him. "No."

"Good. Well in that case, would you mind going out to dinner with me later. I would love to take you on a date." He said revealing a bouquet of roses he had behind his back.

"But you don't even know me sir." AJ said smiling big and playing along.

"I would love to get to know you …" He paused acting as though he didn't know her name.

"AJ, my name is AJ." She said playfully rolling her eyes at how cute he was being.

"Well AJ, meet me at this address at 7 o'clock tonight. Wear something fancy and make sure you wear that Chanel perfume you have." He said nonchalantly.

"How do you know I have Chanel perfume?"

"You always wear Chanel perfume."

"But _how do you know that_?" AJ said stepping closer to him. Chanel was her favorite perfume and he knew that before the accident. But she hadn't told him that _since _the accident.

"You wear it all the time and I love it. It smells sophisticated but yet not too sophisticated."

"AJ did you tell him that?" Kaitlyn said smiling really big.

AJ shook her head and continued to eye Dolph. Maybe this was his memory slowly coming back. Maybe he'd remember all the small things first and then finally remember her. "Dolph how long have we been dating?" she asked timidly.

"If you say yes to my dinner date then I think we can consider today the day we started dating if you want to." He said still not catching on to what AJ was thinking.

"Oh." AJ said sighing and taking the flowers. "I accept." She said fake smiling at him. He didn't see it was fake though since he didn't know her all that well.

"I'll see you later then." He said kissing her quickly and walking away.

AJ touched her lip and turned back to Kaitlyn. "Was it just me or …"

"I thought so too." Kaitlyn said with a sad look and pulling her best friend into a hug. "He'll remember you sooner or later."

"Everyone keeps saying that but … I want it now. Not sooner, and not later. I want it _now._" AJ sighed again and they started walking. Going to dinner with her … what should she even call him anymore? He ex-fiancé?


	5. Express

They had spent their whole night in that restaurant laughing and talking and enjoying each other. AJ actually found it refreshing. It felt as though she was getting a fresh start with the man she already loved. Dolph on the other hand we getting a fresh start and loved the girl he had only known for a couple days.

She was everything he had always wanted in a girl. She was perfect for him and he definitely saw why he loved her at one point. Was he in love with her now? No, but he definitely could see a future with her.

"This was a really good first date." AJ said as they walked into the house.

"Really? You liked it?" Dolph said grinning.

"I loved it." she said kissing his cheek and heading upstairs.

Dolph followed and entered the room to find her changing over by the dresser. He assumed that she was comfortable changing in front of him, so he changed into his pajamas too. It was sort of hot so he just slipped on some pajama pants and headed towards the bed.

"Woah." AJ turning around and seeing him shirtless.

"What? Is this too much for a first date? I can sleep downstairs or something." He said trying not to be pushy.

"No!" She sort of yelled at him, but she caught herself as she finally pulled her eyes away from his amazing looking torso area. "I mean no … its fine … you can totally sleep in here." She said getting lost in a daze at his muscular body. She was acting as though she hadn't seen it before.

_1 year later_

"Is it bad that I kind of want to just love all over you tonight and not go to work?" AJ said as they lay in bed that morning.

"Love all over me? Please go into details and I _might _be able to get us out of work tonight." He said kissing her tenderly.

"How could you get us out of work Ziggy?" she said beaming at the idea. Yes, she was finally calling him Ziggy again. They were finally a legit couple again. Dolph still couldn't remember, but he was making up for it by being with her now and enjoying every second of it.

"It's called calling in sick babe." He said switching positions slightly and laying his chin on top of her head.

"You can try it but if Vince gets mad at you, don't complain if he puts you in a handicap match." AJ said moving her head and kissing him.

"I love you babe."

"I love you too Ziggy." AJ said kissing him yet again. The fact that he had grown to love her all over again meant the world to her and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

A little bit later, yes, they had gotten out of work for the day, and yes, Dolph couldn't help but tease her about it. "I told you I could do it."

"You did, you did." She said walking into the living room and sitting on the couch. Suddenly AJ got sad. He said he could do it, but the one thing she wanted him to do … he couldn't. Although she loved him and how they were sort of bad to normal, she wanted him to remember all those good memories. She wanted him to remember all the bad things that helped them grow as a couple.

"What's wrong?" he said catching on quickly that she wasn't in a good mood anymore.

"Huh? Nothing really, just thinking about something."

"What?"

"Nothing important, let's watch TV." She said picking up the TV remote only to have Dolph take it away from her.

"No AJ, tell me what's wrong."

"I want you to ..." she paused. "I want you to remember Wrestlemania week. I want you to remember that we had a fight at the motel I used to stay at. I want you to remember we lost at Wrestlemania but won the championship the next day. I want you to remember that night and how we spent it together!" AJ stood up and walked over to the other side of the room with her back turned to him.

"AJ—"

"NO!" she screamed turning around with tears running down her face. "I want my fiancé back! I want to go to bed at night knowing that we've been together 5 years and not just one! I've tried Dolph, I've tried and I can't! I can't do this anymore! I can't wake up another morning and know a year ago you didn't know I was!"

"AJ—"

"You don't know that my dad died, and you don't know that I locked myself out of the world for two months. You don't know that you're the one that helped me through that and you don't know that your grandma died from cancer. Briley lied to you and told you she didn't want to talk to you anymore because we all agreed it would hurt less than you hearing she died Dolph! You don't know how much it hurts me when you call me 'babe' and when you kiss me because that's a kiss we've been doing for 5 years … you just don't … you just don't remember." She said with her voice finally lowering to a whisper.

"AJ I'm … I'm sorry." He said looking at her with glassy eyes. Seeing her like this made him want to cry.

"It's not your fault Dolph. I'm to blame for this. I shouldn't have picked that fight with you and I shouldn't have tried to get you to love me again. I did this to myself. I set myself up for failure because I've gone a year hoping and praying you'll remember, but I knew deep down you wouldn't." AJ said wiping her face.

"I'm sorry, babe."

AJ went up to him and wiped a small tear that escaped his eye. "Me too."

"Babe, don't do this." He pleaded with her, knowing what she was about to do.

"I'm … I'm not your babe anymore Dolph." she said and got her purse and left Dolph without a goodbye.


	6. The End

Work wasn't the same. Home wasn't the same. Nothing was the same. He tried everything he could to get his mind off of her but nothing helped. The gym wasn't even the same because all his questions on twitter would be about her. _Her. _The woman who abandoned him and left him to fend for himself.

He had to see her almost every day and that didn't help his anger. He had built into an angry ball of frustration and anytime he got he would take it out on either himself or any innocent bystander. Today was the day he was finally going to explode and she was going to know about it.

"Hey Dolph!" Big E said walking into his locker room with AJ tagging along behind him.

"What are you so happy about?" Dolph said refusing to look their way.

"I have a match tonight, and it's against Ryback, and since you've faced him multiple times I wanted some pointers." Big E was eager to learn and Dolph couldn't be upset about that … but he was.

"What exactly do you want me to tell you?"

"What is his offense and defense like? Should I get the upper hand first, or come out looking strong at the end? Stuff like that."

"I lost against Ryback every time I faced him so I don't think I'm the right person to ask." Dolph said shrugging his shoulders and going to her locker.

"What's wrong with you tonight?" Big E asked coming over and slamming his locker.

"Well I have a guy slamming lockers in my face, I think that's problem number one." Dolph responded.

"All I was asking for was help because you've been doing this longer than I have and you catch an attitude like I did something to you. The person who did something to you is standing on the other side of the room okay? So don't take it out on me." Big E said being dead serious. Dolph just looked at him. He had been avoiding AJ's existence in the room, but it got hard all of a sudden.

"Dolph are you okay?" he heard her say.

Dolph's eyes shifted over to her and he stared her down. Something was going on in his brain right now that he couldn't understand. "I won the title." He said just above a whisper. "I won the title." He said a little bit louder this time.

"Dolph you didn't win a title." AJ said confused as she came closer and stood in front of him.

"Get away from me." He said angry and walking around her to the door, leaving.

She followed him and realized he was going to his thinking place inside the arena. In each arena they always had a small secluded area where he always would go to think. "Dolph!" she yelled but he wouldn't stop until they finally reached the area … the roof.

"What do you want AJ?" he said stopping.

"I want to know what's wrong with you! I know we didn't end on a good note, but I care about you, and I want to help!" she said stopping in front of him and folding her arms over her chest.

"You don't care about me AJ and you never did!" he yelled in her face.

"I care about you a lot Dolph! I love you for crying out loud!"

"No ... no you don't."

"What? How could you even say that?"

"Do you not remember you _leaving _me? You don't remember you saying you couldn't _do it anymore_? Looks like you're the one who can't remember things anymore." He said harshly.

"Why are you doing this?" she said letting a tear fall.

"You _left_ me! You _abandoned_ me! You _gave up _on me! You didn't _try _anymore! You left me when I _needed_ you! I _loved _you, not because I wanted things to go back to normal, but because I truly loved you AJ. That year was amazing and every day I tried my hardest to remember because I wanted to see _you _happy! I stayed with you that year because I wanted to see _you_ smile and I could see you wake up every morning and see _you_ happy. I did that for _you!_" He said letting a tear slip down his face too.

"Dolph—"

"No! When you left me, you didn't let me speak, so you're going to stand there and you're going to listen to me!" he yelled at her. People entering the arena could probably hear them. "I was sorry that I couldn't remember the things you want me to, but I tried to make up for it and give you everything that I could. I gave you love, affection, material things, vacations, but most importantly I gave you my _heart._ And what did you do? You threw it back at me right after you got done smashing it and crumbling it into pieces!" Dolph was hurt that she just left him and all the frustrations that had built up over the last year were coming out.

AJ had tears streaming down her face. She was wrong for leaving him and she wished she could take it back. "Dolph—"

"I'm not going to let you speak! You don't deserve it! Just how you didn't deserve me! If that's how you had to leave me, then I shouldn't have been with you anyway! How would you have felt if your world came crashing down on you and you couldn't remember anything that was going on around you? You fell in love with the person you were with before your world turned upside down, and right when you think you can get past it, they just leave? How would that feel?"

"I didn't just leave you Dolph!" AJ screamed at him.

"What do you call waking up one morning, going downstairs, and saying 'I can't don't this anymore', picking up your purse, and _leaving_!?" Dolph couldn't understand her train of thought, how could she not see that she left him?

"How do you think it felt on my end Dolph? We had been together 4 years and all of a sudden you couldn't remember anything we had. You didn't remember the little stuff that I wanted you too!" AJ said in her defense.

"You act like I wanted this all too happen to us!"

"Why us though?" AJ said calming down. "Why us? We were fine just the way we were. We were happy. We were together. We were going to get married. Why us?" she whispered to him.

"I don't know." He said calming down too. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry I didn't remember Wrestlemania week and that I had to hold you extra tight that night because you felt like you had failed me. I'm sorry I didn't remember starting that fight at the motel and told you Big E and Kaitlyn were in our business. I'm sorry that I didn't remember the next day on Raw that I won the championship and that night you made me feel like a different person. That night meant the world to me because we spent the night in our hotel room loving all over each other because we both deserved that moment. I'm so sorry AJ." Dolph said not realizing he just remembered some things from their relationship that AJ never told him.

"Dolph—"

"I'm sorry your dad died from lung cancer. I'm sorry my grandma died from lung cancer too because that hurt us all over again. I'm sorry I couldn't help you through your situation and I shut you out of mine. I should have held you tighter or kissed you better and told you I loved you more." He said still not catching on to his rant.

"Dolph listen to me." AJ said wiping all the tears from her face because she was realizing his memory was coming back.

"No, because if you're going to tell me that I'm wasting my breath, I'd rather keep talking." He said breathing heavy from all his talking. "I'm sorry for making you feel like I didn't care enough about you to marry you until a year and a half ago. I'm sorry for not knowing that being Mrs. Dolph Ziggler would mean so much to you. I'm sorry I got drunk that night and then the next morning left you because I got the news about my grandma. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry for not calling you that morning like I promised but instead sent you a stupid text message and I'm sorry for shutting you out of my life because my grandma died. She was my world before you and without her there was no me, but then I found you, and you changed that. I'm sorry for proposing to you on my birthday. That should have been our day but because I wanted to make you happy I couldn't wait, but that's no excuse." Dolph was still breathing heavy and was feeling light headed. "I don't know why you wanted to be with me because if I just spent all this time apologizing for things I did in the last year before the accident, you shouldn't be with me. But I'm really sorry Pikachu, I'm sorry."

"What did you just call me?" AJ asked timidly.

"Pikachu." He said not getting her drift.

"Dolph what's the one pair of converse I can't live without, but I've never worn before?" AJ asked him knowing he was the only person that knew the answer to this question.

"Your limited edition, 'No Place like Home' chucks." He said easily.

AJ's mouth dropped and she jumped on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and kissing him with as much passion as possible. "You remembered! You remember us!" she yelled into him.

Dolph was confused. "What? What did I remember?"

"You remember us now Dolph! You remembered things I never told you about since the accident. I knew it! I knew you would remember!" AJ said kissing him again.

Dolph enjoyed the kiss because of course she was his Pikachu so he missed her. "AJ I'm sorry for all of this. If I had remembered sooner you might not have left."

"I shouldn't have left in the first place." She said not taking her eyes off of his. "Come here." She said jumping down and dragging him back into the arena.

"What are we doing back in the locker room?" he asked confused.

"Dolph what am I to you?" she asked for one last bit of confirmation before she proceeded with her next action.

"I proposed to you didn't I? I think that makes you my fiancé babe." He said as though she was a three year old.

"You know, legend says if you have any romantic doings before the wedding, it's going to cause bad luck on the marriage for a year." AJ said playing with the rim of his t-shirt and slowly lifting it.

"I think we've been through enough to make up for that year that's going to cause us bad look." He said noticing what she was doing and doing the same to her.

"You think?"

"I know." He said bending down and kissing her. "Can you wait until we get to the hotel babe?"

"Whhhhyyyy?" she asked not taking her lips off of his.

"I can't do everything I want to do to you in a small locker room." he said in a deep voice that made it really hard not to continue to kiss him.

"We have a couch."

"We definitely need more room than that." He said laughing a little at her suggestion.

"Fine, hotel it is, but it better be worth it." she said pecking him and finally getting out of his face.

"It will be worth it." he said smiling like crazy at her. "I have to make a few calls; I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay baby." She said for the first time in a long time.

_Later:_

"Seriously Dolph what is the surprise in the room?" AJ asked as he teased her in the hallways and elevator saying how good the surprise is inside the room.

"You'll see." He said pretending he was going to put the key into the door.

"Dolph, open the door!" she playfully yelled at him.

Dolph pointed to his lips, asking for a kiss. She kissed him in hope she could get her surprise. "That's it?" he asked after she only pecked him on the lips.

"That's all you're getting until you open the door." She said backing away from him a little.

"Well come on in." he said opening the door, letting her go in first.

"Dolph, I swear if you—" AJ stopped in her tracks when she saw a humungous hotel suite, lit with candles only, and a bunch of flowers and flower petals everywhere. "Baby …" she said turning around to see him smirking at her as he held a small bag in his hands. "You did all of this for us?"

"Nope. I did it all for _you._" he said grabbing her waist and pulling her closer and leaning his forehead on hers.

"Thank you so much. We haven't even done anything yet and this is the best night ever." She said smiling as they slowly rocked to a random rhythm.

"Would you like to make history tonight?" he asked smirking at her again.

AJ narrowed her eyes at him. "Depends on what's in that bag." She said holding on to his shirt.

"Oh yeah … the bag. See the funny thing is—"

"Uh-huh, sure, what's in the bag Ziggy?" she said snatching the bag and seeing his face get ready for her reaction.

"Really?" she said sarcastically as she pulled out a piece of lingerie.

"What? I thought I'd give it a shot."

"You thought I'd put this on for you?" she said tilting her head.

"More like hoping."

"How long have you had this? We've been together all night."

"I had Kaitlyn pick it up since she probably knows what size you'd need and whatnot." He said simply.

"You had Kaitlyn pick up a piece of lingerie for me to wear … for you?" she said letting him think she was going to get mad.

"Is that a problem?"

"No I'm just kidding baby." She said sliding it back in the bag and kissing him. "So who did the room?"

"E."

"Ah, I see. So everything with you guys is okay?"

"Yeah, it was a random bro fight that we got over."Dolph said walking her over to the sitting area.

"Wait so we're not …" she said confused.

"I didn't want to seem pushy and come in here ready to pounce on you, you know? I was going to ease us into it." he said moving her onto his lap.

"So you wanted to wait a little bit?" she said trying to catch his drift.

"I mean, we don't have to, if you don't want to."

"So you do?" she asked still not getting what he wanted.

"If you want to." He answered just as confused as she was.

"We can wait if you want." She said nodding her head.

"No, I'm good, I'm ready, and we can … if … you know … if you want to."

"Baby …" AJ started and stood up. "Come here." She said grabbing one of his hands as he stood up. She used her index finger telling him to follow her into the separate bedroom. She picked up the bag with the stuff in it as she was about to walk into the room, which made a squeak of excitement come from Dolph's mouth. She laughed and on went their night. I think you can guess what they did … yup; it had been a while so … it was fierce.

"Dolph I'm serious give it back!" she yelled chasing him around the hotel room.

"Nope." He said finally being cornered.

"Dolph I can't leave this hotel room without a bra, okay? I need it back! It's my only clean one!"

"You should have brought some more." He said holding the bra above his head where he knew she couldn't reach.

"You told me not to!" she said holding up the too big basketball shorts of his she had on.

"Since when do you listen to me?" he asked laughing. "And since when did you buy _this _bra? I like it." he said examining the bra a little.

"I've had it for a while now, I'm just now wearing it though." she said jumping to reach it.

"I will repeat … I like it." he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're such a perv." AJ said laughing and shaking her head at the same time. "What will it take for you to give me back my bra?"

Dolph pressed his lips together and she knew exactly what he wanted. Obviously last night wasn't enough for him. "I mean … if you really want to know." He said acting nervous.

"Take me away Prince Charming." She said jumping on him and kissing him. This man for the last 5/6 years had made her life heaven, hell, but most of all … he made it special. He made her want to wake up every day and see his face and he always made her want to smile. "I love you." she mumbled onto his lips has he laid her on the bed.

"I love you so much more."

"I doubt it." she said leaning up to kiss him again.

"I know for a fact that I love you more." He said confident that he loved her a little more.

"I don't think so, but okay, whatever you say."

"Are you testing my love for you?" he asked acting like he was in shock.

"I know a perfect test." She said glowing and blushing at the same time.

"What is that babe?"

"Make love to me Ziggy." She said biting her lip and playing with his hair.

"I'm definitely passing this test." He said smiling as he bent down to kiss her again.


End file.
